The Journal of the Siam Society Vol. LXX, Part 1-2, 1982 - Khamkoo

JOURNAL 

OF THE 

SIAM SOCIETY 

JANUARY-JULY 1982 

volume7oparts 1+2

THE SIAM SOCIETY 

PATRON 

VICE-PATRONS 

HON.MEMBERS 

I-ION. VICE-PRESIDENTS 

His Majesty the King 

Her Majesty the Queen 

Her Majesty Queen Rambai Barni 

Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother 

Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn 

The Ven. Buddhadasa Bhikkhu 

The Ven. Phra Rajavaramuni (Payutto) 

M.R. Debriddhi Devakul 

Mr. Fua Haripitak 

Dr. Mary R. Haas 

Dr. Puey Ungphakorn 

Soedjatmoko 

Dr. Sood Saengvichien 

Mr. Alexander B. Griswold 

Mom Kobkaew Abhakara Na Ayudhya 

COUNC IL 01

JSS 

JOURNAL 

OF THE 

SIAM SOCIETY 

Property of the 

Siam Society's Librat)' 

BANGKOK 

JANUARY-JULY 1982 

volume 70 parts 1+ 2

© 


1982 

Honorary Editor : Dr. Tej Bunnag 

Contributed manuscripts should be typed double-spaced. on quarto paper (approximately 

8 x 11 inches), with generous margins. The top copy should be submitted. All notes 

and references should be similarly typed double-spaced. References should include 

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(where applicable), date and place of publication (or nature of reference, if unpublished), 

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to authors on request only. Originals of illustrations will be returned on request. 

Authors of published contributions receive 30 offprints free of charge. 

copies will be supplied at cost price, but must be paid for in advance. 

Additional 

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JOURNAL OF THE SIAM SOCIETY 

Contents of Volume 70 

1982 

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Articles 

KASEM GAEW-IM & 

MONDANA GAEW-IM 

MICHAEL MITCHINER 

JOHN BLACK 

DAVID P. CHANDLER 

S. SINGARA VELU 

OSKAR VON HINUBER 

NANDANA CHUTIWONGS 

NANCY H. DOWLING 

JEREMY H. KEMP 

Prehistoric Human Finger-impressions 

on a piece of Rock from Songkla 

Province 

1 

The date of the early Funanese, Mon, 

Pyu and Arakanese Coinages 

('Symbolic coins') 

5 

Marco Polo Documents Incorporated in 

the Felicitation Volumes of Southeast 

Asian Studies 13 

The Assassination of Resident Bardez 

(1925) : A premonition of Revolt 

in Colonial Cambodia 35 

The Rama Story in the Thai Cultural 

Tradition 50 

The Tittira-Jataka and the Extended 

Mahavamsa 71 

Visual Expressions of Tantric Buddhism 76 

Burmese Lokapalas : A Problem of 

Identification 86 

Kinship and Locality in Hua Kok 101

NICHOLAS TAPP 

The Relevance of Telephone Directories 

to a Lineage-Based Society : A 

Consideration of some Messianic 

Myths among the Hmong from the 

Ethnographic Literature 

114 

Notes 

RONALD D. RENARD & 

HERBERT R. SWANSON 

KEITH HART 

Reviews 

UTHAI DULY AK.ASEM 

CHULACHEEP CHINWANNO 

WITHAYA SUCHARITHANARUGSE 

MAX EDIGER 

WITHAYA SUCHARITHANARUGSE 

BENJAMIN A. BATSON 

HAROLD F. GROSS 

DHIRAVAT NA POMBEJRA 

VOLKMAR ZUEHLSDORFF 

KARUNA KUSALASAYA 

Notes on a Letter from Prince Mongkut 

to Dr. S.R. House 128 

A Note on the Military Participation 

of Siam in the First World War 133 

Barend Jan Terwiel, Editor, Seven 

Probes in South East Asia 137 

John L.S. Girliog, Thailand, Society 

and Politics 140 

Somxakdi Xuto, et al, Thailand in the 

1980's: Significant Issues, Problems 

and Prospects 143 

Puey Ungphakom, 1A Siamese for All 

Seasons 

Pridi Banomyong, Political and Military 

Tasks of the Free Thai Movement 

to Regain National Sovereignty 

and Independence 

M.R. Nimitmongkol Nawarat, ·n:wn'l'ilfl~ 

aJ'l'nft (A Drama: The Emerald's 

Cleavage) 

William L. Bradley, Siam Then 

Oeorge Vinal Smith,_ The Dutch in 

Seventeenth Century Thailand 

Klaus Wenk, the Art of Mother-ofpearl 

in Thailand 

Santosh Nagpaul Desai, Hinduism in 

Thai Life 

145 

146 

147 

150 

153 

156 

159

OSKAR VON HINUBER 

S. SIV ARAKSA 

TERRY A. SILVER 

WILLIAM J. KLAUSNER 

ROBERT BOBILIN 

NICHOLAS T APP 

NICHOLAS TAPP 

MICHAEL SMITHIES 

Heinz Bechert, Editor, Die Sprache der 

altesten buddhistischen jj berlieferung. 

The Language of the 

Earliest Buddhist Tradition 162 

Vi'l"::'l"111'11:uii (uo~ t~). wnlili"l""l":U 

q q 0 q 

(Buddhadhamma by the Venerable 

Phra Rajavaramuni (Payu!to) 164 

Dialogue, Vol. 8' : Buddhist-Christian 

Renewal and the Faith of Humanity 

Buddhist-Christian Studies, Vol. I 171 

Roy C. Amore, Two Masters, One 

Message 173 

Antony Fernando, Buddhism and Christianity: 

Their Inner Affinity .176 

C. F. Keyes (ed), Ethnic Adaptation and 

Identity 178 

Jacques Lemoine (with the assistance of 

Donald Gibson), Yao Ceremonial 

Paintings 181 

Jennifer Lindsay, Javanese Gamelan 

Edward C. Van Ness and Shita 

Prawirohardjo, Javanese W ayang 

Kulit 183 

Annual Reports 

The Honorary Auditor's Financial Report December 31, 1981 and 1980 186 

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting, 26 March 1981 189 


List of Paid-up Members, 1982 

List of Institutional Subscribers 

Institutions Exchanging Publications with the Siam Society, 1982 

Obituaries 

HERBERT P. PHILLIPS 

Address by Professor E.H.S. Simmonds 

GEHAN WIJEYEWARDENE 

Peter James Bee 

1927-1982 

Richard Davis 

1943-1981 

238 

240 

242

The microfilming of rare books, Journals of the Siam Society 

and Bangkok Time Newspaper is a continuing project of the Library 

of the Siam Society.· The following volumes of JSS and Bangkok 

Time have been microfilmed and copies are available for sale : 

Journal of the Siam Society Vol. 1-68. 

Bangkok Time Newspaper 

Weekly Mail 

Daily Mail 

Vol. 1938-1939 

Vol. 1896-1902 

Please send enquiries to the Librarian, 

The Siam Society, G.P.O. Box 65, 

Bangkok, Thailand

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PREHISTORIC HUMAN FINGER-IMPRESSIONS ON 

A PIECE OF ROCK FROM SONGKLA PROVINCE 

KASEM GAEW-IM & MONDANA GAEW-IM* 

At present, mankind is so ingenious that he is able to walk in space and even, 

to set foot on the moon. Man has cleverly built many sophisticated spaceshuttles craft 

sent them out into the uncharted universe, and landed them on the very far away 

planets. These indicate the achievements of mankind, especially in science and 

technology. However, man is still trying to find out the answers to the questions of 

where his ancestors came from and for how long has he existed on earth. Man would 

like to learn about the commencement, the evolution of Homosapiens and also other 

mysterious events in the past. 

The prehistoric periods of mankind are still of concern to us along with the 

mysteries of the universe and our future. Excavation is one of the many reliable 

procedures, which have been used by many outstanding archaeologists to find out the 

secrets of mankind. These finds, when put together, could one day be an important 

key to unlock the mysteries of the past and even to enable us to clarify to our present 

generation the problem of how long man has existed on this planet. 

Leakey's finds in Africa (1,2), Peking Man in China (3), Java Man in 

Indonesia (4) have indicated the presence of man in various places on earth some 

thousands of years ago. So far, however, most of the outstanding archaeologists have 

not yet satisfactorily come across any kind of marks or impressions or the fossilized 

body of prehistoric man to reveal his real figuration. The carbon-14 dating 

method could. be utilized in determining the age of the unearthed prehistoric objects. 

Undoubtedly, this procedure could indirectly be used to estimate the commencement 

of our species. The authors' find could be one of the significant prehistoric evidence, 

indicating the existence of man in the southern part of the Thai-Malay peninsula. 

Thorough study of these strange impressions would undoubtedly be elucidating to 

scholars and also support findings being published elsewhere

2 Kasem Gaew-Im & Mondana Gaew-Im 

built more than 10 years ago in order to collect fresh water from several streams 

running down from mountains nearby. The water .from this reservoir would then be 

treated and distributed as fresh-water supply to the campus. All rocks were taken 

from a mountain at Rattaphum district, some 30 kms west-northwest of Hat Yai, 

where the campus is located. Both districts are in Songkla province (Fig. 1). 

This peculiar piece of sandstone could be held up in one hand. There are 

several unequal impressions on one of its surfaces (Fig. 2). Some of these grooves and 

sockets look as if they were impressions of parts of the finger-imprints of the human 

right hand, having been deliberately left on the clay in a sculptor's studio. 

Considering fig. 2, the socket -I is actually about 1.8 x 1.4 x 1.2 ems This 

mark would snugly fit the distal2/3 of the distal phalangeal portion of the index finger 

of the right hand being pressed onto the surface in the vertical direction. Two other 

longitudinal grooves, -M and -R, are located to the right of the previous shallow 

socket. These two grooves are close together, so resembling the impressions of the 

palmar surfaces of the distal 2/3 of the middle and also the ring fingers of the same 

right hand. Each groove is about 1.8 x 4.0 x 1.3 ems and the actual dimensions are 

shown in fig. 3. There is a rather straight ridge between the deep parts of both 

grooves. This crest -E could have been created by the corresponding narrow cleft 

between the palmar surfaces of the partially flexed middle and ring fingers when they 

were tightly placed close together. Perpendicular to the crest -E, there are two 

slightly elevated crescents -C, extending away in both directions from -E. The rather 

deep impressions, which are located distal to -C, obviously appear as concave imprints 

very much resembling the bulging surfaces of the palmar regions of the distal phalanges 

of the middle and the ring fingers of the right hand respectively. The planes of these 

distal portions differ from the ones proximally located. The latter belong to the 

bulging areas of the middle phalanges of both mentioned fingers. When the index 

finger of the right hand is vertically inserted into the socket -1, the distal portion of 

the particular finger could perfectly occupy the space. The curvature of the nail 

surface corresponds to the rather fiat area of the socket while the ball portion of the 

distal phalanx snugly fits the concave side of it (Fig. 4). 

Testing for the squareness of the middle and the ring fingers to the grooves 

-M and -R, these grooves are properly occupied when the distal 2/3 of the palmar 

surfaces of the middle and the ring fingers of the same right hand are placed in (Fig. 5). 

The ball portions of the distal phalanges of both mentioned flingers perfectly fit into 

the concavities of both mentioned grooves and the narrow cleft between the two fingers 

reciprocally corresponds to the crest -E, while the crescents-Care pointed· into the 

shallow and transversely placed skin creases, being between the palmar surfaces of the 

middle and the distal phalanges of the partially :flexed middle and ring fingers.

PREHISTORIC HUMAN FINGER-IMPRESSIONS 3 

When holding this rock in the left hand and inserting the three related fingers 

of the right hand, it would be a proper fit for a man moulding a piece of clay and then 

leaving it untouched till the solidifying process took place. 

Discussion 

Considering the socket and the grooves on the surface of this rock may mean 

nothing to one who accidentally comes across it unless he or she is an anatomist. The 

general appearance of this rock is quite similar to others found lying nearby. The 

size and the shape of this rock and all the dimensions of the socket and the grooves 

are, however, very similar to the bulging of the index, the middle and the ring fingers 

of the human right hand. A semi-solid mass of clay might have been moulded in both 

hands by a prehistoric human being. Part of such a semi-solid clay mass was probably 

held by the left hand while the right hand manipulated other parts of the clay. This 

handling procedure was unexpectedly interrupted and that particular mass of clay was 

left on the floor of the dwelling-place untouched for thousands of years. Nature 

exercised its secret power by changing the clay into a piece of sandstone having these 

marks on its surface. Other evidence in support of this hypothesis are the characteristic 

features of these impressions. It would be unusual for nature to create a socket 

and two parallel grooves with longitudinal crest and also crescents in such a manner. 

For these marks could not be simulated by nature or other animals except man. 

From fig. 3, the plastic replica of this stone vividly reveals the characteristics 

of all three mentioned fingers of the human right hand. The inner surface of the 

mould, which faces this side of the replica, il.lustrates the bulging areas which 

reciprocally correspond to the three fingers of the human right hand. All crest and 

crescents properly adjust to the grooves and especially to all skin creases on the palmar 

surfaces of all mentioned fingers. 

If one makes a thorough investigation of this particular surface of the rock, 

which is clearly illustrated in fig. 2, there exists another oval impression lying further 

from the tips of the impressions -M and -R. This mark has no semilarity to the ridge 

-E. It may probably be a combination of marks created by the ball portions of the 

distal phalanges of the middle and the ring fingers. For the initial step of the 

manipulating process of the clay, the middle and the ring fingers of the right hand 

would have been fully extended and slightly pressed onto the surface of the clay. 

Then both fingers could have been progressively flexed causing another deeper but 

partially deviated press marks -M and -R respectively, together with the crest -E and 

crescents -C. When both fingers were lifted up from the surface of the clay, the 

initial and the final press-marks were then registered and left there forever. Nature 

solidified that particular piece of clay and transformed it into a solid but friable stone. 

This natural process was a complex one and took several thousands of years to reach 

completion.

4 Kasem Gaew-Im & Mondana Gaew-Im 

However, one cannot provide the exact time in which the moulding procedure 

took place in the cave or somewhere around the mountain at Rattaphum district unless 

fragments from this finding were to undergo a sophisticated testing procedure such as 

by the carbon-14 dating method. Geological knowledge could probably also render an 

approximation of time for the process of the clay solidification. 

The other point to be considered at this stage is that one cannot indicate the 

race of the owner of these impressions, but it is possible to postulate that there existed 

prehistoric human beings on the Thai-Malay peninsula very long ago. The years of 

this existence would theoretically be at least equivalent to the time required for the 

clay to be naturally solidified into stone. 

Summary 

A piece of rock, with possible prehistoric human finger-impressions, was found 

at the rock-fill dam of a small reservoir at Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai 

campus, Songkla, Thailand. Thorough study of marks on this rock has led the authors 

to theorise that the impressions probably fit the index, the middle and the ring fingers 

of the human right hand, which had been deliberately left on a semi-solid piece of clay, 

which was thereafter naturally transformed into stone. The time required for this 

process of change would indicate the duration of the existence of man on the Thai 

Malay peninsula. 

REFERENCES 

1. Leakey, L.S.B.: Finding the World's Earliest Man. National Geographic. 1960, 118 : 420. 

Exploring 1,750,000 Years into Man's Past. National Geographic. 1961, 

120: 564. 

Adventures in Search for Man. National Geographic. 1963, 123: 132. 

2. Leakey, R.E. : In Search of Man's Past at Lake Rudolf. National Geographic. 1970, 

137 : 712. 

Skull 1970. National Geographic. 1973, 143: 819. 

3. Montagu, M.F.A.: An Introduction to Physical Anthropolgy. Charles C. Thomas, Springfield., 

1960. 

4. Brace, C.L., and Montagu, M.F.A. : Man's Evolution. An Introduction to Physical Anthropology. 

Macmillan, New York, 1965. 

5. Payne, M.M. : The Leakeys of Africa. Family in Search of Prehistoric Man. National 

Geographic. 1965, 127 : 194. 

-----: Preserving the Treasures of Olduvai Gorge. National Geographic. 1966, 

130: 701. 

6. Marshack, A. : Exploring the Mind of Ice Age Man. National Geographic. 1975, 147: 62. 

7. Johanson, D.C. : Ethiopia Yields First "Family" of Early Man. National Geographic. 

1976, 150: 790. 

8. Tuttle, R.H. : Paleoanthropo1ogy. Morphology and Paleoecology. Mouton-Aidine, Chicago, 

1975.

0 

" 

J 

" 

1\,0T~ RJ TAA 

: .. ~-... 

_.,'¢ 

,.¢.~.. .. 

Fig. 1 Map of southern provinces of Thalland, showing the site of the rock-fill dam {D) and the original area (A), from where this peculiar 

rock was taken. Rattaphum is only 30 kms away from Hat Yai. Both districts are in Songkla province, Thailand.

Fig. 2 

Photograph of the rock, a little smaller than its actual size, revealing quite obviously 

the finger-imprints of the human right hand. The area-l probably indicates the 

imprint of the distal phalanx of the index finger, whil.e the impressions-M and-Rare 

of the palmar surfaces of the distal 2/3 of the middle and the ring fingers of the same 

hand. 

Each square area is 3 X 3 ems.

Fig. 3 

Photograph of the plastic replica of the same rock was taken and enlarged to approximately 

1.6 times of the actual size. The crest-E corresponds to the groove which appears 

when the palmar surfaces of the middle and the ring fingers are placed close together. 

The crest - C, which is perpendicular to the long axis of the crest--E, indicates the 

corresponding grooves lying between the adjacent surfaces of the middle and the 

distal phalanges of the partially flexed middle and ring fingers . 

..

Fig. 4 

When the index finger of the right hand was vertically placed in the socket-!, the ball 

portion of the distal phalanx fits into the concave side of the socket, while the nail 

surface perfectly contacts the flatten area of it. The depth of this impression is not 

deeper than the length of the distal 2/3 of the distal phalanx of the index finger. 

Fig. 5 When the middle and the ring fingers of the same right hand are placed in the probable 

impressions, the photograph reveals that the palmar surfaces of both mentioned fingers 

could exactly adjust it to the grooves on this surface.

THE DATE OF THE EARLY FUNANESE, MON, PYU 

AND ARAKANESE COINAGES ('SYMBOLIC COINS') 

MICHAEL MITCHINER * 

Two series of the early symbolic coins cited in the title are found across a broad 

strip of land extending from Burma to South Vietnam. Coins of the commoner series 

tended to circulate more across the hinterland of this region, whereas the coins of the 

scarcer series tended to circulate more along the maritime border. The geographical 

distribution of the former series coincides with the distribution of Funanese type 

pottery and other Funanese artefacts and the archeological levels also concur when 

these can be substantiated. The other series appears to have emanated from the Mon 

kingdom of Thaton: - 

1) Funan. 

Coins of the "Rising Sun/ Temple" type (Pl. 1, 2, 3)1: Mitchiner (Oriental 

Coins and their values. III. Non-Islamic States and Western Colonies, London, 1979) 

nos. 2567 ff. Findspots include Oc-eo in South Vietnam2, Cambodia3 , U-Thong4, 

Prachinburi and Nakorn PathomS, other sites in Thailand6, Brawrithet and Bawnin in 

the Shan States', HalinB, Beikthano9 and PegulO. 

* Fellow of the Royal Numismatic Society. He has published a nine-volume study of "Indo 

Greek and Indo-Scythian Coinage" and a three-volume work on "Oriental Coins and their 

Values". 

1. All coins illustrated in the plates are in the author's collection. Many of them have been 

published in M. Mitchiner, Oriental Coins and their Values, vol. III. Non-lsla~ic States 

and Western Colonies, London, 1979. 

2. L. Malleret, L' Archeologie du Delta du Mekong, 4 vols., EFEO, Paris, 1959-1963, vol. III, 

PI. XLIV, no. 950. 

3. G. Groslier, Recherches sur les Cambodgiens d'apres les textes et les monuments depuis les 

premiers siecles de notre ere, Paris 1921, pp. 32 and 37-38. 

4. J. Boisselier, Recentes recherches archeologiques en 1hailande, Arts Asiatiques XII, 1965, 

125-174: Pl. 27. 

5. U. Guehler, Symbols and marks of old Siamese coins, J. Siam Society XXXVII ii, 1949, 

124-143. 

6. S. Piromya, Coins in Thailand, Bangkok National Museum, 1973, pp. 6-9: Prachinburi, 

Nakhon Pathom, U-Thong, Supanburi, Manoram, Chai Nat, Sa wan Kalok, Sukhotai, 

Tapanhin, Pichit. 

7. U. Mya, Some hitherto unknown Burmese coins, Archeological Survey of India, 1930-1934, 

331-335; Pl. CLlVa, no. 6. 

8. Myint Aung, The excavations atHalin, J. Burma Research Society LIII ii, 1970, 55-64; PI. 

XIII no. 2 : also the provenance recorded for a coin in the British Museum. 

9. A Thaw, Report on excavations at Beikthano, Rangoon 1968; Pl. LVIIIa. See also A. Thaw, 

Historical sites in Burma, Government of the Union of Burma, 1972. . . 

10. U. Mya, Some hitherto unknown Burmese coins, Archeological Survey of India, 1930-1934, 

331-335. 

5

6 Michael Mitchiner 

Several of these coins were recovered from excavations and reasonable dates 

can be proposed : 

a: Oc-eo excavations. The Kingdom of Funan, of which this city was the 

major port, fell in the 6th. century ADil and coins found at Oc-eo can reasonably 

be dated earlier than this. 

b: U-Thong. Excavations show this city to have both pre-Dvaravati and 

Dvaravati period levelsl2; the fomer corresponding with the much more extensive pre 

Dvaravati levels excavated at the site of Chan-sen!3. Boisselierl 4 suggested that the 

two coins he illustrated from the U-Thong excavations belonged to the pre-Dvaravati 

period. The existence of the Dvaravati kingdom was recorded in the 7th. century 

11. This has been discussed by many authors and is well founded. The two major French writers 

on the subject, Coedes and Malleret, may have over-emphasised the political importance of 

Funan: vide G. Coedes, The lndianised States of South-east Asia, trans!. S.B. Cowing, 

Honolulu 1968 : L. Malleret, op. cit .. More recent research is increasingly confirming the 

commercial importance of Funan and the wide radiation of its cultural influence, as well as 

the date of its demise. Vide, among others, A.H. Christie, Lin-i, Fu-nan, Java, pp. 281-287 

in Early South East Asia, Oxford University Press 1979. 1-Tsing writing a century later, 

(A record of the Buddhist Religion as practised in India and the Malay Archipelago : AD 671 

-695 :trans!. J. Takakusu, Oxford 1896, p. 12) said "Setting out south-westwards (ie. from 

Lin-i =Champa), one reaches (on foot) within a month, Poh-nan (kuo), formerly called 

Fu-nan. Of old it was a country, the inhabitants of which lived naked; the people were 

mostly worshippers of heaven (the gods or devas), and later on, Buddhism flourished there, 

but a wicked king has now expelled and exterminated them all, and there are no members of 

the Buddhist Brotherhood at all". This conforms with the archeological evidence of a 

preponderance of Hindu (mainly Vaishnavite, with some Sivaite) artefacts among the minor 

statuary and amulets (and some seals) from Oc-eo, plus (superseded by) a small minority of 

Buddhist artefacts. The occupation of Funan by Chenla in the sixth century AD involved 

return to traditional Hinduism and led on to the subsquent establishment of the Hindu 

monarchy of Angkor. Hiuen Tsang (Memoires sur les con trees occidentales, trans!. S. Julien, 

Paris 1858, II, 82) placed Isanapura as the country east of Dvaravati. He travelled during 

AD 629 to 645 and at that time Isanavarman (floruit AD 627) was king of Chenla-lsanapura 

was his capital (cfr. G. Coedes, op. cit., 69-70). 

12. H.H.E. Loofs, Problems of continuity between the pre-Buddhist and Buddhist periods in 

Central Thailand, with special reference to U-Thong, pp. 342-351 in Early South East Asia, 

Oxford, 1979. 

13. B. Bronson, The late prehistory and early history of Central Thailand with special reference 

to Chansen, pp. 315-336 in Early South East Asia, Oxford, 1979. 

14. J. Boisselier, op. cit.

DATE OF EARLY COINAGES 7 

AD by each of the two Chinese travellers, Hiuen-Tsang1 5 (travels: AD 629-645) and 

I-Tsing16 (travels: AD 671-695). 

c: The pre-Dvaravati levels of U-Thong and Chang-sen (also the contemporary 

site of Beikthano: vide infra) contain pottery of Funanese type; closely related to that 

of Oc-eo; and the coins of 'Rising Sun I Temple' type closely follow the geographical 

distribution of such pottery forms17. 

Radio-Carbon datings (also Thermo-luminescence 

datings) from the Funan-related levels (Ill and IV) of Chang-sen suggest the period 

AD 200/250 to AD 600/650 for this cultural phase. IS 

15. Hiuen Tsang, Memoires sur les contrees occidentales, trans!. S. Julien, 2 vols., Parisl858; II, 

83 : T'o-lo-po-ti. He travelled in AD 629-645. See also E. Lyons, Dvaravati, a consideration 

of its formative period, pp. 352-359 in Early South East Asia, Oxford, 1979: also 

G. Coedes, op. cit.,pp. 76-77. 

16. 1-Tsing, A record of the Buddhist Religion as practised in India and the Malay Archipelago: 

AD 671-695, trans!. J. Takakusu, Oxford, 1896. pp. 9-10: "Going east from the Nalanda 

monastery 500 yoganas, all the country is called the Eastern Frontier. At the (eastern) 

extremity there is the so-called 'Great Black' Mountain (ie. the chain separating Arakan 

from the Irrawaddy valley), which is, I think, on the southern boundary of Tu-fan (Tibet). 

This mountain is said to be on the southwest of Shu-chuan (Szechuan), from which one can 

reach this mountain after a journey of a month or so. 

Southward from this, and close to 

the sea-coast there is a country called Srikshetra (She-li Ch'a-ta-lo); on the south-east of 

this is Lankasu (ie. Mon kingdom of Thaton); on the east of this is Dvaravati (To-bo-lo 

[pa-ti]); at the extreme east, Lin-i (Champa). The inhabitants of all these countries greatly 

reverence the Three Jewels (ie. Buddhism : Buddha, Dharma, Sangha)". Note that Funan 

had by now been replaced by Chenla which was not Buddhist (but had exterminated 

Buddhism :vide supra). For further Chinese evidence relating to Dvaravati vide also P. 

Gutman, The Ancient Coinage of Southeast Asia, J. Siam Society, 1978, 8-21. 

17. The pottery, like the Rising Sun coins, speaks of a cultural conformity without implying that 

each artefact was actually manufactured in Funan. 

This Funanese cultural mileu is in 

marked contrast to the Jack of cultual relationships between artefacts excavated from earlier 

levels at archeological sites. The period of the Funanese cultural mileu also contrasts strongly 

with the post-Funan period when Cambodia (Hindu kingdom of Chenla), the Menam valley 

(Buddhist kingdom of Dvaravati), the Irrawaddy valley (Phu kingdom of Srikshetr!l) and the 

base of the penninsula (Mon kingdom of Thaton) all had their individual cultures (and 

coinages). The chronological dividing line between these two distinct periods focusses around 

the beginning of the seventh century AD (destruction of Funan in the mid sixth century : 

establishment of Dvaravati before AD 625). 

18. B. Bronson (op. cit.) : also R.B. Smith, A check-list of published Carbon-14 datings from 

South East Asia, pp. 493-507 in Early History of South East Asia, Oxford, 1979.


d: The north Burmese city of Halin, from which these coins have also been 

excavated, has provided Radio-Carbon dates in the 2nd/3rd century AD and the 6th. 

century AD19. 

e: The central Burmese city of Beikthano, which is in archeological terms the 

oldest of the three major Pyu cities (Halin, Beikthano, Srikshetra) and where further 

specimens of these coins have been excavated (sites: KKG 15 gateway; KKG 3 stupa), 

has provided Radio-Carbon datings of 90 BC/ AD 90, circa AD 70, circa AD 225 and 

circa AD 30020• This city appears to have been destroyed before AD 500. Hegemony 

of the region then passed to Srikshetra (Hmawza). In the seventh century AD reports 

of Hiuen-Tsang21 and of I-Tsing22 only two states were cited in Burma. These were 

Srikshetra (ie. the Pyu kingdom of the middle Irrawaddy valley) and the Mon kingdom 

of Thaton23 to the "south-east" of Srikshetra. 

2) Mon kingdom of Tbaton. 

Coins of "Sankh shell/ Temple without ancillary symbols" type (Pl. 4, 5: other 

types of 'Shell/Temple' coins with ancillary symbols around the temple are more 

specifically related to the Menam valley): Mitchiner III no. 2580. 

19. Aung Thaw, Historical Sites in Burma, 1972, 15. A seal with a Sanskrit inscription from 

Halin illustrated by Aung Thaw is strictly comparable with numerous seals from Oc-eo 

published by Malleret (op. cit.). The date when Halin (C-14 datings: 2nd/3rd century AD; 

6th. century AD) was destroyed has not been established, though it was no later than the 

mid-ninth century. There are reasons for believing that Halin may have been destroyed 

substantially earlier than this date. 

20. Aung Thaw, Report on .excavations at Beikthano, Rangoon, 1968: in combination with R.B. 

Smith, A check-list of published Carbon-14 datings from South East Asia, pp. 493-507 in 

Early South East Asia, Oxford 1979. 

A mould for casting various types of jewellery 

excavated at Beikthano and published by Aung Thaw closely resembles many moulds found at 

Oc-eo and published by Malleret (op. cit.). A clay sealing bearing the Sanskrit inscription 

Samgha Siri was excavated from the building named KKG 2. 

21. Hiuen Tsang (transl. Julien, op. cit.; II, 82-83) : She-li Ch'a-ta-1o. The Chinese 'She-li' 

corresponds with the Sanskrit Sri in many place names cited by Chinese writers of this period. 

22. 1-Tsing (transl. Takakusu, op. cit.); passage cited above. 

23. Called Lankasu by 1-Tsing (vide supra) and Kamalanka by Hiuen Tsang (transl. Julien, pp. 

82-83) : "Going south east from Srikshetra there is in the bay of the sea Kamalanka; to the 

east of this, Dvaravati".


Findspots include Pegu24, Southern Burma25, Thailand26, and Oc-eo27, The 

Oc-eo coins would, from the chronology of that site, appear to have circulated earlier 

than the 6th. century AD2B. 

Apart from these two coin series with a wide geographical distribution. other 

local coin series were struck that appear to have circulated through restricted geographical 

regions: - 

3) Dvaravati and the pre-Dvaravati period in the Menam valley. 

A Moo coin belonging to one of the local Menam valley series (Shell/Temple 

with symbols: Pl. 6: Mitchiner III, 2586) found at U-Thong was dated by Boisselier29 to 

the pre-Dvaravati period of that city. At present there have been too few stratified 

excavation reports from Thailand to cite the exact periods of specific coin series in 

archeological terms. Several coin series local to the Menam valley are extant and it 

remains a matter of judgement which belong to the Dvaravati kingdom and which to 

the culturally more individualistic city states of the pre-Dvaravati period. The present 

writer concurs with Boisselier in proposing that some local Menam valley coin series, 

interpreted in the light of local archeological evidence, should be dated to the pre 

Dvaravati period. Since the Kingdom of Dvaravati had been founded by the time of 

Hiuen-Tsang's travels this means that local coinge was being struck before about AD 600. 

4) Pyu kingdom of the Irrawaddy valley. 

The major coinage attributable to the Pyu is of "Damaru/Dots in Temple" 

type (Pl. 7, 8, 9,): Mitchiner III nos. 2623 ff. 

Coins of this series have been recovered in excavations from all three major 

Pyu sites: Halin3o, Beikthano31 and Srikshetra32, 

24. A.P. Phayre. Coins of Arakan, of Pegu and of Burma, London, 1882, Pl. IV nos. 6-7: two 

from a group of 17 coins found 25 miles from Sittaung. These two coins are now in the 

British Museum. 

25. M. Mitchiner, unpublished. 

26. R.le May, The Coinage of Siam, Siam Society, Bangkok, 1932, Pl. I, no. 6. 

27. L. Malleret ( op. cit.), vol. Ill, nos 948-949 : vol. II, Pl. CVII no. 12. 

28. Discussed above. 

29. J. Boisselier (op. cit.), Pl. 26 

30. Myint Aung, The excavations at Halin, J. Burma Research Society, LIII ii, 1970, 55-64; Pl. 

XIII, coin 3. U. Mya, Some hitherto unknown Burmese coins, Archeological Survey of India, 

1930 1934, 331-335. 

31. Aung Thaw, Report on excavations at Beikthano, Rangoon, 1968, Pl. LVIIIa, from KKG 3 

stupa and several on Pl. L Vlllb. 

32. C. Duroiselle, Excavations at Hmawza, Archeological Survey of India, 1926 -1927, 171-181, 

Pl. XLIIe, f. Aung Thaw, Historical Sites in Burma, Government of the Union of Burma, 

1972, p. 17.


a: One of the Beikthano coins was recovered in excavation of the stupa mound 

named KKG 3 and it can thus be dated prior to circa AD 500. 

b: The Srikshetra coins published by Duroiselle were recovered in excavation of 

Khinba pagoda, coin Pl. XLIIe from the trench approaching the relic chamber and the 

various coins on Pl. XLIIf from within and around the relic chamber. Other artefacts 

in the relic chamber included Sanskrit inscriptions whose epigraphy places them in the 

6-7th. century AD. 

c: Five coins of a slightly altered type, "Damaru/Lingam in Temple" (Pl. 10, 11: 

Mitchiner III nos. 2617 ff) were recovered inside a vase in excavation of the Bawbawgyi 

pagoda at Srikshetra33 together with a clay tablet bearing the same designs (with 

ancillary symbols reversed)3 4. 1he associated artefacts included gold and silver scrolls 

whose epigraphy is also of 6-7 th. century date. It should, perhaps, be emphasised 

that both these two groups of coins recovered in excavations from in and around the 

relic chambers of Srikshetran pagodas were foundation deposits dating from the time 

when those respective pagodas were built. In each case that date was much earlier than 

the mid-9th. century when the city of Srikshetra was sacked. 

d: Coins of another local Pyu series bearing "Damaru/Shell in Temple" designs 

(Pl. 12, 13, 14: Mitchiner Ill no. 2628) have been recovered in excavations at both 

Srikshetra35 and Halin36, 

5) Arakan. 

Coins bearing "Seated bull/Trident" designs (Pl. 15, 16, 17, 18: Mitchiner III, nos. 

2631 ff) are inscribed with the name of the issuing king. The major item for dating is 

the Sanskrit inscription of Anandacandra first published by Johnston37. He dated the 

inscription to circa AD 700. Using the reign lengths of kings cited in the inscription 

this would place the numerous kings of whom coins are extant during the period 

commencing in the 5th. century AD. The date of the inscription is not absolutely 

fixed but to suggest that it should be dated significantly later is both epigraphically and 

33. Taw Sein Ko, Excavations at Hmawza, Prome district, Archeological Survey of India, 1910- 

1911, 89-93. 

34. Taw Sein Ko, ibid., Pl. XLVII, 9-10 

35. C. Durioselle (1927 op. cit.), Pl. XLII no. f, coin 3 :from the Khinba mound relic chamber in 

company with other coins cited above and inscribed plates epigraphically dated to the 6-7th. 

century AD. 

36. Myint Aung (1970 op. cit.), Pl. XIII, 1. 

37. E.H. Johnston, Some Sanskrit inscriptions of Arakan, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and 

African Studies, London, XI, 1943- 1946, 357-385. U. San Tha Aung, King Anandacandra, 

8th. century monarch of Arakan, Rangoon, 1975.


historically quite untenable. No doubt one should, among other relevant evidence, refer 

to later published inscriptions of Arakan38 that were engraved after the time of 

Anandacandra, but earlier than the time of the Pagan monarchy39. Also to be noted 

are the numerous publications on the coinage of HarikeJa4o, which was one of the 

kingdoms derived from the break-up of the Candra kingdom of Arakan41. Any view 

that the break-up of the Candra kingdom should be dated later than the early 7th. 

century AD would also seem to be negated by the testimony of I-Tsing. Writing in 

AD 671/695, I-Tsing referred to the kingdom of Harikela: "He (Wu-hing) worshipped 

the Buddha's tooth there (ie. in Ceylon), and again sailed for the north-east. He came 

to Harikela, which is the eastern limit of Eastern India, and is a part of Gambudvipa"42. 

This is only a summary of some more important chronological evidence and, 

though one may raise questions concerning the precise intepretation of individual pieces 

of such evidence, the consensus is impressive. Many separate sources combine to 

present a picture of well established commerce and appropriate currency systems from 

the beginning of the Christian era. There is unequivocal evidence that coinage was 

circulating well before AD 500 and there is good reason to believe that some coin 

series had already become obsolete by AD 600. 

38. E. H. Johnston (op. cit.}: U. San Tha Aung (op. cit.}: G H. Luce, Sources of Early Burman 

History, pp. 31-42 in South East Asian History and Historiography, Essays presented to 

D.G.E. Hall, Cornell University Press, 1976. 

39. Arakan was occupied by king Anawrahta of Pagan (AD 1044-1077}. 

40. Most recently: M. Mitchiner, Oriental Coins and their values, II, 1978, pp. 658 ff and ibid., 

vol. III, 1979, pp. 83 ff. See also M. Mitchiner, A group of broad repoussee silver coins struck 

by the Candra kings of East Bengal, circa AD 1000; Spink's Numismatic Circular, London 

1978, 8-9. D. W. MacDowall, Eight coins of Arakan from Sylhet, Numismatic Chronicle, 

1960, 229-234. B.N. Mukherjee, Coins of Harikela, Coin Review (Varanasi), Apr.-July 

1976, 2. Further information has been published in a number of articles by Professor 

Mukherjee and the present author also has additional unpublished information. 

41. Discussed in Mitchiner, Oriental Coins and their Values, III, 1979, 83 ff. 

42. 1-Tsing (op. cit.}, page xlvi.


Appendix 

Coins illustrated on the plates 

All coins are illustrated natural size and are in the author's collection. 

struck and made of silver, except number five which is debased. 

All are die 

1 Funan: Unit weighing 9.43 gm 

2 Funan: Quarter Unit weighing 2.30 gm 

3 Funan: Tenth Unit weighing 0.70 gm 

4 Mon kingdom of Thaton : Unit weighing 8.78 gm 

5 Mon kingdom of Thaton : Billon Quarter Uoit weighing 2.43 gm 

6 Mon : Men am valley local type : Unit weighing 8.74 gm 

7 Pyu : major series : Unit weighing 11.05 gm 

8 Pyu: major series: Half Unit weighing 4.83 gm 

9 Pyu : major series : Quarter Unit weighing 2.77.gm 

10 Pyu : minor series with yupa in temple : Unit weighing 10.1 gm 

11 Pyu: minor series with yupa in temple: Quarter Unit weighing 2.55 gm 

12 Pyu : minor series with shell in temple : Unit weighing 10.07 gm 

13 Pyu :minor series with shell in temple : Unit weighing 11.30 gm 

14 Pyu : minor series with shell in temple : Unit weighing 10.8 gm 

15 Candras of Arakan : Candrabandhu : Half Unit weighing 2.5 gm 

16 Candras of Arakan : Niticandra : Half Unit weighing 2.9 gm 

17 Candras of Arakan: Priticandra: Quarter Unit weighing 1.91 gm 

18 Candras of Arakai:i : Dhrticandra : Quarter Unit weighing 1.90 gm

MARCO POLO DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED IN THE 

FELICITATION VOLUMES OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES 

By 

JOHN BLACK, F.R.S.G.S.,. F. lnst. Pet. 

It has long been my wish to fulfil the intention set-down in my letter to the 

President of The Siam Society of 24th August 1965, namely, to record an interpretation, 

in English, of the documents pertaining to Marco Polo given to me by Louis A. Rossi 

of San Jose, California, on the lOth July 1963. 

The documents, figs. 1 to 6, are illustrated in Felicitation Volume II of 7th 

November 1965, BE 2508.* 

I should like to make it clear at the outset that the documents referred to came 

from the 'Home Archives' of Marcian F. Rossi of San Jose, California, but the 

negatives were mailed to me with a letter by his son Louis A. Rossi. Later, an 

explanation will be given of how Mr. Rossi senior came to be in possession of these 

and other documents concerning Marco Polo. 

The first indication that maps and documents existed in the Rossi· archives 

connected with the name of Marco Polo, came from the Library of Congress, 

Washington D.C. in 1933. The Library had only received by then photostat copies. 

Later on, however, the donor presented the Library with two maps, giving them 

ownership rights. One of the maps was selected by the Library(l) as. being of 

undoubted authenticity. 

This map is known as the "Map with Ship" and appears in my Marco Polo 

documents under Fig.l. It shows parts of India, China, Japan and North. America. 

An expert in the Library of Congress considers it to be a 17th century copy of a 14th 

century map.( 2) The script on the left of the map and below the drawing of the ship 

suggests Venetian Italian(3) and the translation is "Marco Polo; I. India and the 

* The Felicitation Volumes of Southeast Asian Studies presented to His Highness Prince Dhaninivat 

Kromamun Bidyalabh Bridhyakorn Honorary President The Siam Society on the occasion 

of His Eightieth Birthday. 

1. The selection was made by Col. Lawrence Martin-then Chief.of the Maps Division. 

2. Beyond question the "Map with Ship" shows Alaska and the possibility has been considered 

that its maker discovered or had knowledge of Chinese or Saracen discovery of North 

Western North America. 

3. William Jerome Wilson. formerly of. The Library of Congress, .translated the script on the 

left of the map and his reason for putting it down to Venetian Italian was the use in some 

words of the letter 'z' instead of the letters 'gi'. 

13 


Siam Society's Libralj· 

SANGKOK 

·'

14 John Black 

adjacent islands according to what the Saracens say; II. Cattigara (Canton) of Tartary 

(China), islands of Japan and adjacent islands; III. Peninsula of the Sea Lions 

(Kamchatka), IV. Islands connected with the Peninsula of the Deer(4) (Aleutian 

Islands and Alaska) situated 2 to 4 hours of difference (of time; i.e. longitude) from 

the walled Provinces of Tartary (i.e. walled China)". 

Referring to the two lines of Chinese Characters on the right side of the map, 

oriental scholars in the Library of Congress(5 ) have found these to be unintelligible. 

This confirms my interpretation and that of Professor F.W. Mote on page 347 of "A 

Note on Three Polo Maps" -Felicitation volumes, Vol. II. 

The leaf design at the border of the drawing of the ship is characteristic of 

the 13th or 14th century.(6) 

Up to now, it is said that characters resembling Arabic can be seen on the face 

of the Map. And, on the frame of the Map, indistinct writing is discernible 

representing lines remaining from a text which has been scratched away. Concerning 

the former, a satisfactory translation has not yet been made. In the latter case the 

faint lettering is in the process of ultraviolet and infrared photographic treatment. 

Leo Bagrow's "The Maps from the Home Archives of the descendants of a 

friend of Marco Polo" in Imago Mundi 5 (1948): 3-13 confirms the aforementioned 

information about the "Map with Ship", and was obtained from the Annual Report 

of The Library of Congress, fiscal year ending June 30, 1943. 

It might be helpful to introduce briefly, Marco Polo's immediate family as 

they play an important part in this study, 

Marco married Donata, daughter of Vittale Bodoer and had three daughters 

Fantina, Bellela and Moreta. Marco's death is given as 1328. The daughters Fantina 

and Bellela were married before Marco died. Bellela died in the early 1330s. Fantina 

died in about 1375-80. Moreta died about 1375. 

Marco Polo's daughters were undoubtedly confidants of their father when he 

narrated incidents from his travels. Whether the stories told by Marco were faithfully 

retold, in the course of time, is open to question. In this respect it must be said that 

4. It is within the bounds of possibility that Marco Polo, who returned to Venice in 1295, 

brought to Europe the first knowledge of the existence of North America, other than that 

acquired by the Norse explorers. This observation is taken from the Report of The Librarian 

of Congress 1943. 

5. Arthur W. Hummel of The Library of Congress and Chinese colleagues examined the Chinese 

Characters and concluded as stated in the text. 

6. Leicester B. Holland, Chief of Division of Fine Art of The Library, gave this as his considered 

opinion.

MARCO POLO DOCUMENTS 15 

when it came to put it in writing the authors inclined to embellish the narrative. For 

instance, on Marco Polo's voyage to the Extreme Orient, which is our particular 

interest, all three daughters mention an island where a gold masked king was attended 

by thousands of damsels and again certain islands which were inhabited only by 

females. Marco Polo's own record, my Fig.6, fails to confirm his daughters' 'flight of 

fancy', in this respect.

16 John Black 

A POLO CHRONICLE (WITH MAP) 

FIG. 2 OF MY DOCUMENTS. 

"The journey made by Maffeo, Nicolo and Marco Polo in 1271 from Venice 

to Acra in Persia and as far as Cambaluc in Tartary took them over mountains and 

through valleys. On the way they visited many cities. In practically all of them a 

temple was found where the Buddha was seated in a cross-legged position. 

"When Marco was able to speak the Tartar language he was summoned by the 

King who conferred his favour on him, honouring him with the title of 'Summu 

Nauticu' -Highest Navigator. Thereafter he sailed the sea as far as the Extreme 

Orient, finally reaching a long peninsula surrounded by seals(?). This peninsula is 

joined to a great land called Serica. Here every woman is 'arcador'(8) and every man 

is 'arcador' of the King Gold-Mask. Because of the cold, people live in round houses. 

The King of this land invited Marco Polo to his chamber where he was received with 

great courtesy. From the King, Marco Polo took a Golden Mask to the King in 

Tartary. After this presentation, the latter made Marco Polo Governor of a 

Province(9). 

"A Syrian navigator(IO) in the service of Marco said that the peninsula was 

situated 8 points of hourly difference (i.e. longitude) from Mauritania in the Atlantic 

and more than two hours from Tartary from where, at one time, the people of the 

peninsula emigrated when Hia was in power. On their arrival they named the land 

in the Mongolian language Foxxa or Seal Marine". 

Moreta Polo-Venice 1338 

7. Peninsula of the Sea Lions said to be Kamchatka. 

8. 'Arcador' or Archer. 

9. The province of Yanju (Yangchow),-city in Manji in the valley of the Yangtse River about 

120 miles from the delta,-Marco Polo governed there for three years. 

10. Biaxo Sirdomap, a Syrian Pilot and merchant, was probably one of a number of Saracens in 

Marco Polo's service during his sea voyages.


Note : The map itself was first published in Imago Mundi 5 ( 1948) : 3-13 by Leo 

Bagrow and is divided into sections of 10" each, in a grid lay-out, from the 

Fortunate Islands( 11) to the eastern coast of Asia. An indistinct note outside 

the left frame of the Imago Mundi map refers to 10" sections. 

The names on the face of the map indicate, in a wide sense, India, the 

span of the Ganges, China and Cattigara, the latter in all these documents is 

regarded as being Canton. 

The Chinese characters on the right hand sideof the map appear to be 

blind copying by someone unfamiliar with Chinese script. In the "Map with 

Ship" as in this map, the reason for the writing in Chinese has yet to be 

explained. 

II. The Fortunate or Canary Islands, the farthest land then reported in the West. Ptolemy 

(arguing against the opinion of his predecessor Marinus of Tyre) convinced himself that the 

known world occupied precisely and neatly half the circuit of the globe from west to ~ast, so 

he numbered off his meridians from o· to 180", beginning from the farthest land reported in 

the west. The Arabs too reckoned they only had to deal with 180".

18 John Black 

A POLO CHRONICLE (WITH MAP) 

FIG. 3 OF MY DOCUMENTS 

"Sailing from the Canaries (Fortunate Islands) off the North African coast in 

the Atlantic, towards Tartary or Serica and then steering for the Seal Marine Peninsula, 

the distance is more than 8 hours" i.e. in degrees longitude 18 sections of 10" per 

section (Ptolemy's oceumene). Referring to the location of the Seal Marine Peninsula 

in relation to Europe, Fantina's text concluded "When it is evening in Europe it is the 

following day in the place". 

Fantina Polo, Venice 1329 

Note: 

On the face of the map, Roman numerals I to VII give the geographical 

position of countries and places. These numbers are used below the frame of 

the maps, coupled with place name as follows: I. Canaries; II. India;· III. 

Bactaria (Serica); IV. Cipangu (Japan); V. Varn Scian (Kamchatka Seal 

Peninsula); VI. DA QUI (Aleutian Islands); connected with the Peninsula of 

the Deer; VII. Fera (Alaska)(l2). 

The maps in Figs. 2 and 3 are similar, differing only in nomenclature and 

the former having inexplicable Chinese characters. 

As to the age of these maps(l3) -it seems quite certain that the north 

eastern part of Asia was not on the original, but on examination, the map 

itself was either drawn early in the 14th century or it was copied two or three 

centuries later from the one then drawn. 

12. Even ordidary words underwent the most strange corruptions in copying and much more so, 

names of persons and places unfamiliar to the scribe. 

13. The opinion given on the age of these maps is that of Col. Lawrence Martin, former Chief of 

Maps Division, Library of Congress.

MARCO POLO DOCUMENTS 

19 

A POLO CHRONICLE 

FIG. 4 OF MY DOCUMENTS 

"I shall tell you of Marco Polo's journey to the realm of females in China and 

to the Far Bast, and all that he saw there with his own eyes". This was written by 

his daughter Bellela based on what her father told her. 

"During this time, Marco Polo was \mown in all China for his services to 

Fasur, the Emperor. The wife of Fasur, Queen of women in Manji territory, entrusted 

him with a message to Fusin, Queen of females in the Extreme Bast. To accomplish 

this, he set sail in a big ship with twenty Chinese and Saracen sailors from the Gulf of 

Manji. After passing a chain of islands within the gulf he reached the open sea from 

which point he set sail eastward. Suddenly there arose such a terrible storm that the 

compass needle swung from side to side compelling him to sail to the north of a chain 

. of islands enclosed by the sea and stretching east as far as a peninsula. Here Marco 

Polo disembarked twenty eight days after leaving China. At this place he met a 

Syrian, a merchant named Sirdomap, a trader in skins, who expressed great joy on his 

arrival. The merchant had been buying skins there for 30 years at least and on many 

occasions, as far as another peninsula towards the north-east called Marine Seal which 

is twice as far as China. There the people speak the Tartar language, clothe themselves 

in seal skins, feed on fish and live underground. A muddy valley was encountered on 

landing and there was such an enormous glacier that it would be disastrous for anyone 

approaching it. Sirdomap gave Marco Polo his navigation chart and in this way they 

spent five happy days together. 

"One day while they were eating a meal, 200 wives of the Caliph came to them 

singing and dancing. This provoked a reprisal from the 'arcadori' when three Chinese 

and one Syrian were shot with arrows. At this instance Marco Polo resolved to try 

out his four arquebuses( 14) which he had manufactured in China. The noise of the 

explosion made the 'arcadori' run away frightened. But the Caliph who was amazed 

by such a terrible weapon, fell at the feet of Marco Polo and paid him a tribute of 

jewels. He then entrusted him with a Gold Mask for the King of the Tartars. 

"On account of the danger there, Marco Polo decided to leave that land and 

go to the Kingdom of Fusint. Sirdomap, with whom he consulted for advice, decided 

to go with him to that realm. So with both ships, they sailed north west and in less 

than 12 days reached a long narrow island where the only entry appeared to be a gulf 

and no town, only a palace covered with solid gold. 

14. Arquebuses, - forerunners of the rifle, fired by a spark from a fork-rest at chest-height.

20 John Black 

"In this building Fusint(I 5 ) was seated on a golden chair at the head of a band 

of two thousand damsels called Bikeme. The damsels were armed with lances, clothed 

in ermine and adorned with pearls and jewels. So beautiful were they that they 

appeared to be nymphs. When the Queen knew the object of Marco Polo's visit, she 

received him with great courtesy and gave him a Golden Lance adorned with jewels 

for the Queen of the Women in China. He then left that island and went by sea 

towards the south west. 

"In the city of Kin-Sai(l6) he found a thousand damsels with their Queen. 

When this great lady saw Marco Polo again she was delighted and rewarded him with 

many jewels. The King and his Tartar barons also made great rejoicing and festivities 

for him". 

Note: 

The foregoing translation compares almost word for word with that given by 

Leo Bagrow in Imago Mundi 5 (1948): 3-13, with two exceptions. 

First, Bellela is portrayed as addressing a distinguished company of women 

with the words "My Ladies, Princesses, Duchesses, Countesses and all ladies 

who would like to hear about the female realm in China and the Far East". 

Whereas in my translation, Bellela writes in quite simple language. 'This is 

written on a basis of what was told me by my father'. Secondly, the conclusion 

within brackets ("may it be your pleasure lady readers-Ita Pat"). I have 

not found it possible to attribute any meaning in English to the words in 

par~nthesis here. 

15. According to Marco Polo's daughter, Bellela, Fusint was the Queen on an Island of Women, 

guarded by 'Bikerne', damsels of some beauty who were the armed guard of Fusint. As the 

traveller himself makes no mention of this, it must be regarded as a 'flight of fancy' on the 

part of Bellela. 

16. Kin-sai: present day Hangchow, then the capital of Manji, called by Marco Polo "City of 

Heaven".



FIG. 5 OF MY DOCUMENTS(l7) 

"In previous notes I have omitted a happening of singular importance to which 

I must now refer. One of the Polo family, Andrea by name, who fought in the sea 

battle of Sardinia against the Saracens, returned with war honours to our Kingdom. 

His courage also brought back good fortune, not only for himself but for his wife, 

Clemendia. She was the daughter of a subject of Charles II of France whose custom 

it was to reward his compatriots with feudal investitures in the many countries of his 

Kingdom. He also invested Giovanni of Villadubai with the title of Baron in the 

county of Agnone. Here Andrea Polo lived happy and contented, adding fortune to 

his virtue. 

"On the day of San Giacomo, 25th July 1282, I was piloting a ship near the 

island of Pelagusa, when I saw a large Saracen ship in the vicinity sailing in our 

direction. At the same time another Venetian ship piloted by Andrea Polo and his 

brother Giovanni was near-by. We attacked the Saracen ship which was taken 

unawares, so much so, the Saracens were terrified and threw themselves into the sea 

only to be drowned. 

"On the day of San Bartolomeo, 24th August, at the invitation of Admiral 

Rugiero Sanseverinus, we gathered at Salerno and were received with great courtesy 

by the Barons and authorities of the town. 

"It was then that Andrea Polo married Clemendia the beautiful daughter of 

Baron Agnone. Thereafter the Baron, Giovanni of Villadubai and Andrea's brother 

Giovanni set sail for Constantinople. Needless to say we were all happy at the former 

event". 

Carlo Sperano 

Altamura (High Navigator, Pilot) 1284. 

This recollection was given me through the pen of Moreta Polo and one of her 

sisters, Fantina, who in the 'Chronicle' of their house wrote as follows: "In the map 

of all Asia, made by my father Marco, these islands were according to the Saracens, 

VIII hours, CXV meridian degrees (18) In our tongue it can be said that every man 

17. The first section of Fig. 5 does no more than give an account, from the Polo annals of the 

time, affecting the sea·loving State of Venice signed by a High Navigator in 1284. Later 

however, it brings into the picture the 'key' figure of Admiral Rugiero Sanseverinus who was 

to be entrusted by Marco Polo himself with the care of his records. 

18. Under the heading of 'Salient Features' in the Appendix, time-difference or hour-angle 

receives detailed consideration.

22 John Black 

on these islands hunt all strangers and foreigners with bows and arrows so it is said 

the inhabitants were so savage it was no place for Marco Polo. 

"As a result of Marco Polo's drawing of India, Tartary and the many islands 

he explored, the Great Khan honoured him. This honour took the form of making 

Marco, Governor of a Province. 

"No one but Marco Polo had ever crossed a desert of sand 3000 miles from 

the Tartar Kingdom. 

Then with ten ships went by sea so far, until he reached a chain 

of islands and a great peninsula, where he found many caves and the inhabitants wore 

trousers of sea-lion (seals) and deer skin".(19) 

Fantina Polo 

Venice 1329 

To complete this very interesting narrative of Fantina, I will write it exactly 

as recorded on another page. 

On the reverse side of Marco Polo's parchment map, Moreta has written : 

"Voyage from Venice to Acra in Persia and from Acra to Cambaluc was made overland 

by the Polos Maffeo, Nicholo and his son Marco. 

sailors. 

The Venetians were merchants and 

It was only Marco, however, who had access to many places in the Extreme 

Orient and had wide knowledge of the vastness of that remote Empire which is 5000 

miles and 8 hours distant from Antilla. 

The drawing was found in my father's house". 

Moreta Polo 

Venice 1337 

"After the writings mentioned above, there follows one by Marco Polo in 

which he names in the Asian tongue other places explored by him. First, the peninsula 

of Uan-Scien,(20) the chain of islands Ta-Qui, the adjoining peninsula of Ta Gran 

linked to the Foca-M, as Polo wrote, in the margin, Foca marina. These huge 

territories appeared to be chambers of love. The kings and warriors wore masks of 

gold and carried weapons of ivory and their women were adorned with furs ornamented 

with pearls so that they look like Venuses". (This is attributed to Marco Polo himself 

but it is more likely to be a post-script by Moreta or Fantina). 

19. This sentence sums up the voyage of 28 days from The Bay of Manji to the Extreme Orient. 

20. It is extraordinary how the simple exercise of copying words could result in such corruptions 

as recorded here by Marco Polo in his sea voyage to the Extreme Orient. For a possible 

interpretation, see explanation of my Fig. I.


Note: I am pleased to ack;nowledge that Leo Bagrow in Imago Mundi 5 (1948): 3-13, 

under the Moreta Polo Maps, published in Italian, a statement made by Moreta. 

A similar text appears in my document, Fig. 5 as translated above. One notable 

exception, however, between the two statements is the date. Whereas in 

Imago Mundi it is not clear, in my Fig. 5, Moreta Polo, Venice MCCCXXXVII 

(1337) stands out. One may conclude from this that the map referred to under 

Fig. 2 in Imago Mundi must have been made before 1337. 

It has been 

suggested that it may have been copied two or three centuries later and then 

with certain additions, possibly Kamchatka, the Aleutians and Alaska. This 

raises the question of discovery to which I refer later. 

Before concluding with the translation of Fig. 6 of my documents, it is relevant 

to relate how Marcian F. Rossi of San Jose, California, came to be in possession of 

certain Polian documents, some with maps, including those referred to in this article. 

"Marco Polo entrusted the maps to Admiral Rujerius Sanseverinus who had 

graduated at the Nautical School at Amalfi. A number of centuries later his descendant, 

Ruberth Sanseverinus, married Elisabeth Feltro Della Rovere, 4> Duchess of 

Urbino. In the year 1539, Julius Cesare de Rossi, Count of Bergeto married Maddalena 

Feltro Della Rovere Sanseverinus to whom the Tenure of Cajiata was assigned; his 

grandson Joseph de Rossi became Duke of Serre; this tenure was held till 1744 when 

it was transferred to the Duchy of Casate to Joseph de Rossi; his younger brother 

Antonio de Rossi was the father of Marciano de Rossi, my great grandfather". 

This quotation is taken from "The Maps from the Home Archives of the 

Descendants of a friend of Marco Polo" by Leo Bagrow which appeared in Imago 

Mundi 5 (1948) : 3-13. 

 

The document associated with my Fig. 6 shows Elisabeth Feltro Della Rovere as the daughter of 

the Duke of Urbino.

24 John Black 


FIG. 6 OF MY DOCUMENT 

"Many examples have already been recorded and many more left aside. 

I can 

say, however, from the documents in my care, that Roberto Sanseverinus, Count of 

Cazatia, who married Elisabeth Montefeltro, della Rovere, daughter of the Duke of 

Urbino, was unable to write in detail from the Polo manuscripts and maps left in his 

care by 'ancestor' Rugerio Sanseverinus because they are not clear, due to age. 

"At any rate, it is of more than passing interest to reflect that if Roberto's 

kinsman, Antonio Sanseverinus, Great Admiral of the Realm, who married Costanza 

Montefeltro had had Marco Polo's nautical charts in his possession when he visited the 

Amalfi Nautical School he would have been in an advantageous position. 

Not only 

would he have received praise but he was the bearer of information of some of the 

much sought after nautical skills of the Arabs. 

"These parchments were passed from Roberto to his daughter Maddelena who 

married Giulio de Rossi. 

register them and to satisfy my curiosity, took notes. 

It was from this connection that I had the opportunity to 

Sanseverinus chronicles written in the ancient writing of that age. 

The documents included some 

One in particular 

had an annotation by Rugiero Sanseverinus(21) referring to the Order of the Military 

Tribune originally written on a 'Tablet' of Gold which the Great Khan gave to Marco 

Polo in acknowledgement of his explorations made to the farthest East. 

The interpretation of the text on the 'Tablet' is as follows: 

"Among the prefects taking orders from Kubliai Khan, Marco Polo, a Legate 

of Venice, is elected as Ambassador to the Province of Anju, which by the Grace of 

God, this and other lands were added after friendship with the Tartars. You merit 

• 

this honour because you were the first to take possession of the many islands scattered 

in the most distant Orient and previously never heard of. 

Through your will, 

merchants and travellers must obey your judgement and recognise your authority". 

"I shall not forget to mention here that Marco Polo, during his sea voyages, 

used the famous nautical skills of the Arabs. 

From the time of the Empress 

Semiramide, ruler of a large part of Asia, all the islands of the Indian Ocean, according 

21. Tablets presented by Kublai were granted to the Khan's emissaries for distinguished service. 

It is on record the Polos received more than one. In so far as the writer knows, the Gold 

Tablet referred to here for Marco Polo's explorations to the farthest east has not previously 

been recorded.


to the Mappamondo, were in Syriac characters.(22) And likewise were the Island 

possessions of India, the Garaxini, Cattigara of Tartary, the island of Zipangu and 

islands to the peninsula of Lizerol situated IV hours from the provinces of Tartary. 

"In conclusion, I will say that I have constructed a genealogical tree of the 

origin of this family, obtained from authentic writings loyally preserved and belonging 

to a branch of the Poli of Venice". 

Lorenzo Polo, Protonotario. 

Cazatia. MDLVI 1556. 

APPENDIX 

It would appear that there is proof enough to show, that few, if any, of the 

manuscripts, \..hich have come down to us, represent the original form of the Marco 

Polo narrative but that certain texts are nearer to the original than others. How near 

the documents, just translated, are to the original must be left to the judgement of 

Polian scholars. 

Arising out of the Rossi documents, Figs. 1-6 aforementioned, there is a need 

to draw attention to the prominent feature of these documens, namely, Marco Polo's 

voyage from the Gulf of Manji to the Extreme Orient. 

22. As a tribute to the nautical skills of the Arabs which Marco Polo acknowledges here, it is 

pertinent to draw attention to the "Overall Survey of the Ocean Shores" (Ying-yai Shenglan) 

which was translated by J.V.G. Mills and published by the Hakluyt Society in 1970. This is 

a detailed account of the famous Cheng Ho's voyages from China to the Red Sea and East 

Africa when his Navigator and Chart Interpreter was the Arab Ma Huan. The outstanding 

Maritime Cartogram, "The Mao K'un Map 1433, was the result of these voyages.

26 John Black 

FIG. 1, "MAP WITH SHIP" 

It will not have escaped attention that in "Map with Ship" mention is made 

of Marco Polo being associated with:- 

* The islands of Japan and adjacent islands. 

* The peninsula of the Sea Lions. 

• Islands connected with the peninsula of the Deer. 

The 'Map with Ship' now in the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. awaits 

additional study as it may be a seventeenth century copy of a fourteenth century map. 

And it seems certain, on specialist authority, that the lettering in Italian below the 

map, can hardly be earlier than the seventeenth century. 

Be that as it may, there is ample information in the documents now translated 

regarding Marco Polo's voyage to the Extreme Orient, to set it down, briefly, as a step 

towards an overall analysis and a discovery-conclusion. 

FIG. 2, MORET A POLO, VENICE, 1338, - WITH MAP 

* 

He sailed the sea as far as the Orient, finally reaching a long peninsula 

surrounded by seals. 

Because of the winter cold, people live in round houses. 

* 

The people of the peninsula emigrated from Tartary and they named the land 

in the Mongolian language. 

FIG. 3, FANTINA POLO, VENICE, 1329- WITH MAP 

* From the Canaries (Fortunate Is.) in the Atlantic towards Tartary and then 

steering for the Seal Marine Peninsula, the distance is more than 8 hours,-refer map 

with Fig. 3, 18 sections of 10" per section from Europe.(23) 

FIG. 4, UNSIGNED AND NOT DATED BUT ATTRIBUTED TO 

BELLELA POLO 

(If received from the hand of her father must have been prior to 1328) 

This account of the voyage is much embroidered and introduces Sirdomap the 

Arab navigator and merchant. Marco Polo makes no reference to this man. 

23. Refer to detailed considc;:ration of time-difference or hour-angle under Salient Features-see 

Appendix.


* There are, however, important elements in the composition worthy of note, 

for example : weapons used, language spoken, clothing and description of the terrain 

and dwellings. 

FIG. 5, HAS INFORMATION ATTRIBUTED TO A HIGH NAVIGATOR, 

1284. FANTINA, 1329 AND MORETA, 1337 

* The High Navigator intorduces the 'key' figure of Admiral Rugiero Sanseverinus, 

later keeper of Marco Polo documents and maps. 

* Fantina refers to a chain of islands and a great peninsula where her father 

found many caves. 

* Moreta maintains it was only Marco of the three-Maffeo, Nicholo and Marco 

-who had access to many places in the Extreme Orient and then concludes with a 

romantic account, not confirmed by Marco, of what happens among the inhabitants in 

these huge territories. 

FIG. 6, LORENZO POLO PROTONOTARIO, CAZATIA 1556 

The most concrete evidence of Marco Polo's voyage to the farthest Orient 

comes from the pen of Lorenzo Polo-so far as is known, no relation to the Poli of 

Venice. 

* Before he died about 1328, Marco Polo entrusted all his documents and maps 

to Admiral Rugiero Sanseverinus, referred to by his descendants as the 'ancestor'. 

This is confirmed by the Marcian Rossi letter of 14 January, 1948, to Leo Bagrow, 

wherein he describes how the Marco Polo documents came into his possession. These 

records remained in Sanseverinus hands for some 230 years until one, Roberto, Count 

of Cazatia, failing in his effort to interpret them, gave the documents to his daughter 

Maddelena who married Giulo de Rossi in 1539. In turn, she registered them for 

safe-keeping with the aforementioned Lorenzo Polo in 1556. 

* The curiosity of this notary was sufficiently aroused by the obvious importance 

of the documents, to take notes from their contents. These notes form part of the 

.writer's discovery-conclusion. 

* Much of the information revealed, so far, from the records examined regarding 

Marco Polo's voyage to the Extreme Orient refers to a chain of islands and a great 

peninsula-in Fig. 6, a second peninsula comes into the picture. In this connection, 

Korea has been presented as a possible answer, but in the writer's opinion, who has

28 John Black 

visited Korea several times, there is little or no relationship between the climatic 

conditions, wild-life described and indeed the inhabitants and their housing that would 

involve the consideration of Korea. 

One must turn now to the Kuril Islands and Kamchatka to investigate their 

possible connection, either by hearsay or actual visitation with Marco Polo. 

Kamchatka was only discovered by the Russians in 1697. After all, the lonely 

Cape of the North Pacific was 6000 miles east of their turbulent Baltic States. It was 

not, however, until 1735 that they sent Stepan Krasheninnikov, a scientist, to carry 

out a complete exploration and scientific description of a peninsula the size of England. 

His acknowledged brilliant achievement in this unknown country is worthy of examination 

in the light of what is known of Marco Polo's voyage to the Extreme Orient. It 

should be borne in mind that shortly before Krasheninnikov's time, Kamchatka had 

no place on any world map. 

FROM KRASHENINNIKOV'S DESCRIPTION OF THE LAND OF 

KAMCHATKA 1735-1741 

PEOPLES: 

Three different peoples live in Kamchatka, the Koriaks in the north from 

Eastern Siberia, the Kamchadals in the middle and south of the peninsula and the 

Kuriles in the south and islands of the Kuril chain. All three have a separate language 

but since the Kamchadals predominate, their language influences the others. In origin, 

appearance and language, they are Mongolian and it is alleged they were driven out of 

their homeland, beyond the river Amur, due to cruelty and tyranny of Eastern 

conquerors. The Kuriles are mild by comparison with the others. who are described 

as wild. 

CLIMATE: 

In contrast with the mainland, the climate is mild, profiting from a warm sea 

current which results in conditions of fog. The worst hazards of the country are 

violent wind storms. 

TERRAIN: 

There is a 'backbone' of mountains and volcanic eruptions are frequent. 

Louis Bourguet, French Naturalist and Archaeologist, 1678-1724, contributes 

to Krasheninnikov's Description of the Land of Kamchatka by giving his opinion of 

the mountain range and valleys of the Peninsula. In a comparison he says they are


somewhat similar to the Alps. This likeness recalls Bellela's observation about the 

terrain in Fig. 4 when she mentions 'an enormous glacier that would be disastrous for 

anyone approaching it'. 

The coastal plain was not developed for crops in Krasheninnikov's time but 

the soil is suitable. There are many hot springs. Rivers flow from the mountain 

range on both sides but few are navigable. 

ANIMALS & FISH: 

Land and sea animals are plentiful and include fox, ermine, sable, bear, wolf, 

marmot, wild and domestic reindeer. In the fresh and sea-water group, otters, seals 

and sea-lions abound. Fish is abundant and fishermen -from as far away as Japan 

frequent the off-shore banks. Many tales are told in Japan of shipwrecked fishing 

boats on the coasts of Kamchatka. 

FOOD & CLOTHING: 

Animal and fish flesh, with greens which grow along the littoral, make up the 

peoples' diet. There must be few countries where forage is more suitable to pasturing 

herds. The humid climate and Spring rains produce a quality of grass that makes for 

a prodigious size in live-stock having an abundance of milk. 

In clothing, boots, trousers and skirts are made of seal and tanned deer-skins. 

The wealth of the country lies in the variety of fur-bearing animals and fish. 

HOUSING: 

In Spring, Summer and Autumn, dwellings are above ground on stilts. 

Winter all are housed below ground in cave-like structures. 

In 

WEAPONS: 

When Krasheninnikov arrived in Kamchatka, the only weapon of destruction 

in use was the bow and arrow, the latter being about 120 ems. long with a poisoned tip 

of flint or bone.

30 John Black 

SALIENT FEATURES THAT HAVE A BEARING ON THE CHAIN OF 

ISLANDS AND PENINSULA ENCOUNTERED BY MARCO POLO ON HIS 

VOYAGE TO THE EXTREME ORIENT 

Marco Polo placed Cipan-gu (Japan) 1500milesbeyond China. Thestatement 

was obviously made on hearsay, as were others he was wont to make. In this respect 

he was not alone as a seafarer in making hearsay statements. At about this time, on 

the other side of the then known world, the Azores and Madeiras mysteriously appeared 

on charts, although there was no record they were officially 'discovered'. 

* Lorenzo Polo, the notary, in his interpretation of Marco Polo's records in Fig. 

6, refers to the Peninsula of Lizerol. The spelling of Lizerol is the same as used in the 

Rossi Italian Document and is possibly a transliteration from a chart in Arabic and 

could refer to Kamchatka. 

* In reference to Cipan-gu (Japan), Marco Polo gives a description of wealth 

and prosperity. Indeed he was well aware of conditions and happenings in Cipan-gu 

as it was a favourite topic among the Tartars in China. It would be difficult, if not 

impossible, for anyone having a connection with Cipan-gu in the 13th century, like the 

adventurous Marco Polo, not to hear of the Kuril Islands just north and at the 

continuation of this chain of islands, the great peninsula of Kamchatka. The Japanese 

are a nation whose main diet is fish and many were the tales of Japanese fishermen 

shipwrecked on the coast of Kamchatka. Indeed it is known from Japanese records 

that the major Kurile Island, north-east of Hokkaido, then known as Mat-ma, and 

largely peopled by Japanese, had a continuous connection with Kamchatka. 

* Marco Polo has much to say in praise of the nautical skills of the Arabs, in 

fact his well-known Mappamondo had all the place names and feature details in 

'Syrian' characters. Although he does not mention the Arab Navigator and merchant 

Sirdomap, there is no reason to disbelieve they did not meet. Biaxo Sirdomap, 

according to Bellela, sailed the coasts of Asia for 30 years from his own Syria to the 

remote north-eastern lands of Asia where he traded merchandise for ·animal skins. In 

connection with the people of the great peninsula to the north-east, Sirdomap said they 

speak the Tartar language, clothe themselves in seal-skins, feed on fish and live 

underground on account of the winter cold. 

Referring to Sirdomap's map, dated 1267, described by Leo Bagrow of Imago 

Mundi in his "Maps from the Home Archives of the Descendants of a friend of Marco 

Polo", Marco Polo was only 15 years of age when the map was made. There is no reason 

to dispute that it was not the self-same map he received from Sirdomap in 1287. This 

map was part of The Bellela Polo Documents sent to Imago Mundi by Marcian Rossi.


It can be said of Sirdomap's map that it must have been invaluable in guiding Marco 

Polo to the remote territories of the Extreme Orient. 

* There are a number of references to time-difference having an obvious 

relationship to distance in the translated Rossi documents. An outstanding example 

comes from Fig. 6, when Marco Polo places the position of the peninsula of Lizerol 

as IV hours from the walled provinces of Tartary. One must appreciate that Marco 

Polo grew up in sea-loving Venice and because of this he was familiar with the art of 

navigation. Although the magnetic compass, invented by the Chinese, was then in 

use, Marco Polo would almost certainly determine his position at sea by taking a starsight. 

He may have used the compass, but only for checking. His principal concern 

here, would be the east-west distance of longitude-the corresponding sky-term is right 

ascens1on. The fixed stars have a certain declination and right ascension as places on 

earth have certain latitude and longitude, while differences of both right ascension and 

longitude can be treated as 'hour-angles' or differences of time (1 hour-150). This 

puts Marco Polo's peninsula and near-by islands in the position of Kamchatka and 

the Kuriles, although it must be said, until the late 17th century, Kamchatka's exact 

position was unknown. Up to then, it was only vaguely indicated on maps through 

conjecture. 

It would be profitable at this point, in the analysis of Marco Polo's voyage to 

the farthest East, to examine his observations and see how they compare with those of 

Krasheninnikov, when he visited Kamchatka, some 400 years later. It must be 

acknowledged that the latter's observations are much more detailed. Nevertheless it 

would not be incorrect to say that comment on the climate was somewhat similar and 

that they were, in so far as the coastal area was concerned, on the same terrain. Both 

have the same to say about the majority of the inhabitants, the Kamchadals, that they 

were of Mongolian origin and their description of the land and water animals was 

similar. In the gap of some 400 years between the visits, because of the remoteness 

and inaccessibility of the peninsula and adjacent islands, the likelihood of change can 

be ruled out. 

· * Another Polo journey, this time to Carajan (Yun-nan) S.W. China is worthy 

of note here. It was followed in part, 500 years later by "The Mekong River 

Expedition" with Francis Garnier. 24 Colonel Henry Yule in his book on "Marco 

24. The Mekong River Expedition ( 1866-1873) resulted in the writing of voluminous records. 

In 197 5 a single volume, in English, was published as "The River Road to China" by Milton 

Osborne which was reviewed by H. Leedom Lefferts of the R.::search Institute for the Study of 

Man, New York, in The Journal of The Siam Society, January 1976, Volume 64, part I. The 

writer was requested to review "The River Road to China" for The Journal of The Royal 

Geographical Society, London,-see Appendix.

32 John Black 

Polo, The Venetian" Vol. 11, second edition, 1875, has this to say in comparing the two 

journeys: "Lieut. Garnier's book is the only existing source of illustration for many 

chapters of Polo. The pulication of my lamented friend Lieut. Garnier's great work 

on the French Exploration of Indo-China has produced a mass of illustration of Yunnan 

for which, but the other day, Marco Polo was well-nigh the most recent authority." 

CONCLUSION: 

On completion of the Marco-Polo-Rossi Documents, Figs. 1-6, it seemed to 

the writer his immediate task was over. That was the position, until, in response to a 

query, a letter was received from The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. enclosing 

a description of the 'Map with Ship'. At the same time, the Head of Reference and 

Bibliography in the Library kindly enclosed a copy of Leo Bagrow's "The Maps from 

the Home Archives of the Descendants of a friend of Marco Polo", Imago Mundi 5 

(1948) : 3-13. 

With this information, the writer was prompted to examine in more detail the 

aforementioned translated documents. It must be said that some of these documents 

had already been published by the Library of Congress and Imago Mundi. There was, 

however, sufficient unpublished information for the writer to look again at the overall 

picture of the Rossi Documents. 

The Appendix is the result of this subsequent reflexion. Here, the part played 

by 'Ancestor' Admiral Rugiero Sanseverinus is emphasised. He was given the 

documents and maps by Marco Polo himself to hold and in accordance with tradition, 

retain in the family. Next in importance is the Notary, Lorenzo Polo, who was 

entrusted with the Traveller's documents for safe keeping by Maddalena Feltro Della 

Rovere of Sanseverinus lineage. Curiosity compelled the Notary to interpret the 

. documents with the result, from Marco Polo's own handwriting, he was able to read 

about the voyage to the Extreme Orient. With such evidence and thatofhis daughters, 

through map and document, this writer is of the opinion that on his voyage from the 

Bay of Manji (Hangchow Bay) in China to the 'farthest East', Marco Polo at the limit 

of his journey reached the Kurile Islands and Kamchata, within the years 1285-1290. 

A map attached shows a trace, in red, of a possible route taken by the 

Navigator/Pilot, from the Bay of Manji to Kamchatka. 

Addendum : See- "Salient Features"- 'Sino-Japanese contact in Marco Polo's time. 

During that period there was considerable trade between the two coun 

tries to and from the ports of Ningpo in Chekiang and Hykata in 

KyushuC25>. 

25. Reference K. Enoki, Oriente Poliano, Rome, 1957.

Marco 

R u s I A 

or s B 

Polo's Voyage to The Extreme Orient 

in Red 

N T/ A R T A H y 

I 

E H A 

s 

I 

R 

T 

H 

A 

0 

\ 

I 

Part of chart of Pacific from London, 1798 ed ition of Comic de 

Laperouse's A Voyage rotmd Jbe World ... 1785 .. . 1788. 

Manji Bay (Hang chow) To 

Kamchatka


-ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS- 

In writing this monograph, the writer wishes to acknowledge with gratitude 

the documents and maps received from Louis A. Rossi of San Jose, California. And 

with many thanks to The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., in particular, Mr. 

Richard W. Stephenson, Head of Reference and Bibliography Section, for the informative 

matter sent to me which greatly assisted my research on the subject. 

-NOTE ON PLACE NAMES- 

From existing records it would appear Marco Polo did not speak Chinese but 

was familiar with the Mongolian language. In Explanatory Notes (12) and (20) - 

reference is made to the difficulty of analysing place and proper names. This is 

recorded in appreciation of his problem in Romanizing such names to fit in to our 

present day picture. The Traveller came across not only Chinese and its many dialects 

but Arabic (Saracen) and the Inner Asian languages of Turkic and Mongolian, making 

corruptions inevitable. So much so, it is impossible to translate or locate a number of 

place names used by Marco Polo. 

So much has been written by scholars about the famous voyages of Marco Polo 

that there must be little left to say. Nevertheless, the writer feels that he has opened 

up the po3sibility for future stupy of the Venetian's hitherto unexplained voyage to the 

Extreme Orient. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Marco Polo, II Milione, prima edizione integrale, a cura di Luigi Foscolo 

Benedetto- Florence 1928. 

The Travels of Marco Polo from the text of L.F. Benedetto by Professor Aldo 

Ricci- Broadway Travellers 1931. 

Marco Polo and Japan - K. Enoki - Oriente Poliano. 

Through Asia- 2 Vols.- Sven Hedin- London 1898. 

Historical Atlas of China- Albert Herrmann- New Edition 1966. 

East Asia in Old Maps - Nakamura Hiros~?-i, The Centre of East Asian 

Cultural Studies 1962. 

Arab Seafaring in The Indian Ocean in Ancient and Medieval Times. G.F. 

Hourani 1951. 

Explorations of Kamchatka 1735-1741 - Stepan Petrovich Krasheninnikov. 

Translated with Introduction and Notes by E.A.P. Crownhart - Vaughan, Oregon 

Historical Society, Portland, 1972. 


'{\am Society's Lilntey 

8ANGKOIC.

34 John Black 

History of Kamchatka - Krasheninnikov. Translated by Dr. James Grieve, 

1764. New Introduction, Kenneth L. Holmes, 1973. 

The Travels of Marco Polo - A Penguin Classic. Translated and with an 

Introduction by Ronald Latham, 1958. 

Civilizations of China - Joseph Needham, F.R.S. Sections applying to The 

Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty 1280-1368 A.D. 

Marco Polo's Asia - Leonardo Olschki - University of California Press 1960 

Ruins of Desert Cathay in 2 Vols. - M. Aurel Stein, 1912. 

The Haven - Finding Art - E.G.R. Taylor, 1956-1971. 

The Book of Ser Marco Polo the Venetian concerning Kingdoms and Marvels 

. of the East- Sir H. Yule. Revised in the light of discoveries 1903.

THE ASSASSINATION OF RESIDENT BARDEZ (1925): 

A PREMONITION OF REVOLT IN COLONIAL CAMBODIA* 

By 

DAVID P. CHANDLER** 

On Saturday Apri118, 1925, at about one in the afternoon, Felix Louis Bardez, 

the Frencll resident in tile Cambodian province of Kompong Chllang, about a hundred 

kilometers north of Phnom Penh, was beaten to death by the villagers of Kraang Laev, 

where he had been attempting to collect delinquent taxes. Bardez was an experienced 

administrator, with over ten years of service in the Protectorate. He was forty-two 

years old. Two Cambodians wllo had accopanied him to tile village, a militiaman and 

an interpreter, were killed at the same time. 

Over the next few weeks, nineteen suspects were swiftly rounded up. All 

were men, ranging in.age from seventeen to forty-five; thirteen of them were in their 

twenties. All but two were natives of the village. After wllat the French picturesquely 

refer to as apassage a tabac, or roughing up, the prisoners admitted they were guilty, 

but they witlldrew their confessions, and pleaded not guilty, when the trial opened in 

Phnom Penh at the end of 1925. By then, one of them had died in prison. There 

were many witnesses to the killings, well-briefed by the prosecution, and the defense 

lawyers made little effort to prove the innocence of most of the defendants. They 

pleaded instead that the crime was a political one, a collective response to unbearable 

economic pressure. The explanation, of course, did not excuse tile murders, and the 

presiding judge sentenced one defendant to death, four to life imprisonment, three to 

fifteen years and one to five; the other nine were released. 

Soon after the killings, and long before the trial, the name of the village was 

changed, by royal decree, to Direchan ("Bestial"); the decree required villagers to 

conduct expiatory Buddhist ceremonies, on tile anniversary of the killings, for the next 

ten yearsl. It is unclear if tile ordinance originated in the royal palace, or responded 

* This paper was originally prepared for a staff colloquium in the Department of History, Monash 

University. I'm grateful to my colleagues for their comments on that occasion, and also for 

those of Ben Kiernan, J.D. Legge and Anthony Barnett. 

** David P. Chandler is Research Director of the Centre of Southeast Asiam Studies, Monash 

University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia. 

1. The text of the decree is printed as an appendix to Dik Kearn, Phum Direchan (Bestial 

Village") Phnom Penh, 1971. 

35

36 David P. Chandler 

to French pressure; in any case the ordinance comformed to precedents from precolonial 

times, and probably reflected King Sisowath's own response to the events, as the 

manuscript chronicle of his reign suggests. 

L'affaire Bardez deserves our attention for several reasons. One is its 

uniqueness. As far as I know, it was the only occasion, in the twentieth century at 

least, when a French official was killed by ethnic Khmer while carrying out his official 

duties. Its uniqueness leads us to two questions, or even three. Why did the killings 

happen when and where they did? If conditions were as bad throughout Cambodia as the 

defense lawyers and anti-colonial journalists at the time maintained, why had no 

Frenchmen been assassinated before? To this we may add, why were none killed 

thereafter? 

Another approach to the affair is to place it inside the framework of French 

economic policies toward Cambodia in 1925. Were these so severe, in other words, as 

to explain the killings? A third is to see the incident in an even broader context, 

namely the enactment of French colonialism in Indo-China. This is the view taken by 

some anti-colonial journalists, like Andre Malraux, who covered the trial in Phnom 

Penh.2 

Now approaching the Bardez affair in terms of its uniqueness, in terms of the 

zeitgeist of 1925, or in terms of French policy are ways of looking back at the killings, 

while trying to reduce our dependency on what has happened since. Another approach, 

leading away from them, is to assess them in terms of the iconography of Cambodian 

nationalism, which we can date, in recognizable form, only from the 1940s. In 1945, 

a nationalist orator placed the killings in a long list of heroic anti-French (and antidynastic) 

uprisings, going back to the 1860s.3 Five years later, a Communist guerilla 

leader referred to the assailants, in a radio interview, as "heroes". 4 They were cast in 

a similar light in a fictionalized treatment of the affair, written by a republican 

nationalist in 1971.5 These judgements are interpretations of the killings. In the 

2. See Walter Langlois, Andre Malraux: the Indo-China Adventure. New York, 1966, pp. 190-196. 

3. Manuscript chronicle of Norodom Sihanouk (microfilm available from the Centre of East 

Asian Studies in Tokyo) pp. 546-547. 

4. United States Foreign Broadcasting Service (FBIS) Daily Report 2 March 1951. 

5. Dik Kearn Direchan, op. cit.,; see also Republique Populaire du Kampuchea, "Rapport 

politique du comite central du Parti Populaire Revolutionnaire du Kampuchea (26-31 Mai, 

1981)". p. 3, where the First Secretary of the Party, Pen Soven, dating the incident to 15 

November (sic) 1925. writes in the official French translation of his Cambodian speech that 

"le resident Bardez ainsi que ses subordonnes adulateurs, responsables de Ia tentative de 

repression des paysans, et contre les tentatives de revolte hostiles au systeme d'augmentation 

des impots, furent extermines".

PREMONITION OF REVOLT IN COLONIAL CAMBODIA 37 

context of 1925, however, they are not descriptive, because as we'll see the killings 

weren't considerd patriotic, or progressive, by many Cambodians at the time. 

The sources we can use include the French-languagepressofSaigon and Phnom 

Penh. The Saigon papers-at least the five available on micro-film in Australia-cover 

a wide range of views, although I've been unable to consult the most pro-goverment 

of them, ironically entitled L'lmpartia/.6 The Phnom Penh paper, I' Echo du Cambodge, 

however, is unblinkingly pro-colonial in its coverage of the killings and the trial. 

A second contemporary source is the manuscript chronicle prepared by scribes 

in the royal palace for Cambodia's octagenarian king. Its brief references to the 

affair are interesting because they imply collective, communal guilt, rather than 

supporting the prosecution's contention that the killings had been the work of outsiders 

to the village, eager to rob Bardez.7 In fact, all but two of the defendants came from 

Kraang Laev, and Bardez's wallet was found on his body, untouched. 

I have also consulted Bardez' quarterly reports from Kompong Chhnang and 

from his previous post as resident in the southeastern province of Prey Veng; these are 

available in the French colonial archives in Aix-en-Provence. They tell us something 

about his working style, and help to explain why as an administrateur de 3e classe in 

1924 he had been sent to replace a person two ranks higher in assuming his position at 

Kompong Chhang. Happily, too, the Monash Library has a complete run of an 

administrative yearbook from Indo-China, which enabled me to trace Bardez' colonial 

career.8 

This combination of more or less contemporary sources enabled me, in 1979, 

to assemble two or three pages about the affair in a chapter I was writing about French 

colonialism in Cambodia. What convinced me to go further was an extraordinary 

piece of luck. When Ben Kiernan was in Cambodia in September 1980, doing research 

for his dissertation on the Pol Pot period, he inquired locally and learned that one of 

Bardez' assailants, an eighty-year old farmer named Sok Bith, was still alive. Bith, 

6. These newspapers include La presse indochinoise, L'Echo Annamite, L'Echo du Cambodge, 

lndochine Enchainee, La Cloche Fe/ee, Le voix fibre. Archival materials on the incident were 

impossible to locate in Phnom Penh (Ben Kiernan, personal communication). while the 

archives in Aixen-Provence apparently contain only funeral orations (Archives d'outremer, 

Cambodge, F-69, Attenants politiques). Other archival sources are cited below. 

7. The manuscript chronicle from Sisowath's reign, p. 1207, uses a collective noun (bandaras) 

to describe the assassins, as well as the verb no'm knea {literally, to "lead together" or "join", 

to describe the action. 

8. Indochine Francaise. Annuaire genera/e de I' lndochine, Hanoi, 1871- I have consulted the 

volumes for 1907-1925.


alert and active in Kraang Laev, had served a fifteen-year sentence for the crime and 

he recalled it vividly to Kiernan, in a half-hour interview, preserved on tape. The 

interview is useful in confirming or contradicting other sources which Bith, illiterate 

and knowing no French, cannot be expected to have seen. Its value also lies in 

providing a participant's assessment, however blurred or tinted by the passage of time, 

of the important issues of sequence, coincidence, guilt and motivation. 

In reconstructing the story, we can begin with resident Bardez. He was born 

in Paris in 1882. By the time he died, he left a widowed mother, a widow of his own, 

a brother old enough to have a married son, and a brother-in-law employed elsewhere 

in Indo-China. Another Bardez, possibly a relative, had worked in the Saigon postoffice 

at the beginning of the century. We know nothing about Bardez' schooling, 

appearance, or hobbies. Witnesses agreed that he was fearless-perhaps a euphemism 

covering an essentially aggressive personality-and one Cambodian colleague testified 

at the trial that for all his kindness, he "shouted a bit". Bardez had entered the 

colonial service in 1907, and reached Indo-China the following year; until 1912, he 

served in Cochin-China (later to comprise a large part of South Vietnam). In 1913, 

he was transferred to an adjoining Cambodian province, Svay Rieng, as a junior 

administrator, before being shifted to Phnom Penh, in 1915, as the secretaire particulie'r 

of the chef du cabinet of the resident superieur, a politically sensitive position, where 

he came to the attention of the long-serving resident superieur, Baudouin, who later 

seems to have played a role in shepherding his career. 

In 1917, Bardez enlisted in the French Army. He saw service in the colonial 

infantry on the Western Front, where he was slightly wounded, and he was mentioned 

in a regimental despatch, for bravery, during the final offensive of August, 1918. In 

1920, he was back in Phnom Penh, in charge of the Protectorate's personnel section, 

presumably another favored post. He became acting resident in Prey Veng in 1923, 

while still an administrateur de 3e classe, two ranks lower than the majority of 

residents. He seems to have seen his first posting to the field, in five years, as an 

opportunity for advancement, or perhaps merely as an opportunity to give vent to his 

energies, and his fondness for command. He saw the job, his reports to the capital 

suggest, as centering on the steadfast and unrelenting collection of taxes. 

We should look for a moment at the taxes he was empowered to collect. 

Some of these like those on opium, alcohol and salt, were paid directly into 

the budget for all of Indo-China, and were collected by customs officials. Others were 

levied on fishermen and merchants; still others, in lieu of corvee, and in exchange for 

identity cards, which functioned as receipts. Other taxes were levied on all the crops

that were grown in the province. 

was harvested rice, or padi. 


Bardez was collecting it when he was killed. 

In most of Cambodia, the crop most heavily taxed 

The padi tax affected nearly all Cambodian families. 

Before 1920, taxes on padi had been 'collected by delegates sent out from the 

capital on the king's behalf. 

These men, known as akhna luang, negotiated with 

local officials for a cash payment in lieu of a fixed percentage-generally 10%-of the 

year's rice harvest, taking into account such matters as the amount of land under 

cultivation, meteorological conditions during the year just past, soil quality, the availability 

of water, and so on.9 

In fact, it's doubtful if their conversations ever 

covered these matters in much detail. The system flourished on abuse. Cultivators 

and local officials tended to under-report land under cultivation and the size of 

harvests; they also exaggerated catastrophes. The delegates, in turn, were happy to 

be paid off, so long as an appropriate amount of cash went forward to Phnom Penh. 

After 1920, the French "modernized" the collection of padi taxes, authorizing local 

officials, rather than visitors from Phnom Penh, to negotiate with landowners. 

Naturally enough, the removal of one layer of officials did little to reduce malpractice 

on the part of the remaining parties. 

actually declined under the new arrangements. 1 0 

In several provinces, in fact, padi-tax revenues 

Most residents, apparently, were content to let the system run its course, so 

long as a steady amount of revenue, roughly consistent from year to year, could be 

applied to meet the exigencies of their local budget, as well as the demands placed on 

them by Phnom Penh. Bardez was cut from different cloth. One of his first reports 

from Prey Veng analyzed economic conditions in the province between 1914 and 1923.11 

Head taxes, he observed, had kept pace with gains in population, and had risen from 

150,000 piasters to 248,000. Taxes on padi, on the other band, bad dropped from a 

quarter of a million piasters in 1914 (admittedly an excellent year), to barely 102,000 

piasters in 1923. Commenting on the decline, Bardez wrote: 

9. For a run-down of the tax system, see A. Silvestre, Le Cambodge administratif, Phnom Penh, 

1924. The disparity between taxes paid by Frenchmen and Cambodians was very wide. A 

Frenchman earning 12,000 piastres per year paid only 30 piastres tax. A rural Cambodian, 

out of whatever earnings he could accumulate, often paid as much as 9 piastres per annum in 

various forms of tax. 

10. Silvestre, Le Cambodge, op. cit., pp. 524-525. See also A. Pompei, "La notion de propriete 

fonciere au Cambodge" Revue lndochinoise Juridique et Economique 19/20 (1943) p. 438 n. 

11. AOM 3 E 8 (3) Report on period 1914-1923, Prey Veng.


It's not hard to find the reasons: complete inactivity on 

the part of Cambodian authorities, complete lack of 

supervision over local officials [i.e. those empowered 

since 1920 to collect the taxes] and a lack of systematic 

collection procedures. 

Eager to correct abuses, and to make an impression on his superiors, Bardez 

was able to collect an additional 100,000 piasters (including 25,000 new piasters of 

revenus from padi taxes) by the middle of 1924.12 

Results like these probably shamed his French colleagues, fatigued his 

Cambodian associates, and pleased the powers that were, but Bardez' effect on local 

inhabitants is ambiguous. He acted promptly, for instance, when 100 peasants 

petitioned him to remove a corrupt village headman.l3 A month or so later, on the 

other hand, he admitted, in an official report, that he enjoyed being feted as a luc thom 

(i.e. "big master") in his tournees en province.14 According to Sok Bith, his spoken 

Cambodian was rudimentary, after more than a decade in the country. 

Turning from Bardez' achievements in Prey Veng we should look for a moment 

at the destination of the funds he was so eager to collect. Throughout the immediate 

post-war period, Baudouin's government had been attempting to increase tax revenues, 

primarily to underwrite an ever more extensive programme of public works. To a 

large extent, the:se took the form of roads. Between 1922 and 1924, 400 kilometers of 

hard-surfaced roads were built in Cambodia.IS In 1912, there had been only 430 

kilometers of such roads in the entire Protectorate. 

Labour for the roads was drawn 

from Cambodia's convict population, from people unable to meet their tax obligations 

in cash, and from impoverished rice-farmers in the off-season. 

An even more 

impressive, and expensive project was the newly completed resort complex at Bokor, 

atop a windswept plateau overlooking the Gulf of Siam.l6 

Anti-Baudoin newspapers 

in Saigon and Hanoi referred to the complex, intended primarily for the French, as 

"Baudouin's Folly". The road to the hill-station wound through a malarial forest. 

In the nine months it took to build it, nearly 900 convicts and coolie labourers died 

12. AOM 3 E 8b (3) Second trimester report, 1924, Prey Veng. 

13, AOM 3 E 8 (3) Third Trimester report, 1924, Prey Veng. 

14. AOM 3 E 8 (3) Second Trimester report, 1924, Prey Veng. 

15. See La presse indochinoise, 22 April 1925 and La voix fibre 7 January 1926. 

16. Echo du Cambodge 18 Apr.l1925, and La voix fibre 9 January 1926, quoting from Le libre 

Cochinchine 9 January 1926. Marguerite Duras, Un barrage contre Ia Pacifique (Paris, 1950) 

is a thinly fictionalised account of life among less privileged Frenchmen, near Bokor, in the 

1920s.


from the disease. A speaker at the Bardez trial went so far as to suggest that the hotels 

at the resort should fly the skull and crossbones, rather than the tricolore.11 

Partly to pay for Bokor, and perhaps also to meet such additional expenses as 

a new yacht for the Cambodian king, launched in May, 1925, and a new palais de 

justice inaugurated later in the year, French administrators and their rubber-stamp 

Cambodian advisors, drawn from the royal family and the Phnom Penh commercial 

elite, proclaimed a new tax at the end of 1924, increasing charges levied on uncultivated 

land.IS They did so to close the loop-hole of under-reported land-holdings and 

harvests. They tempted people to pay the new tax by promising that receipts would 

be taken as proof of ownership, when and if a full-scale cadastral survey was carried 

out. As the law was coming into effect, in November, 1924, Bardez was transferred 

to a more "difficult" province, Kompong Chhnang, on the southern shore of the Tonie 

Sap. The province had a reputation for banditry. One bandit in particular, a 

Vietnamese named Tinh, was at large there in 1923-1924, and Bardez was active in 

driving him eastward rrom the province, into Cochinchina, in the early months of 

1925. Because so many of its people were engaged in fishing Kompong Chhnang was 

a rice-deficit area, although most of its primarily agricultural districts were prosperous 

enough. 

Kraang Laev was one of these. Its name appears three times in French 

reports from the early 1920s. In 1922, it had been visited by a charlatan who claimed 

royal descent, and was soon arrested for selling charms and potions. 19 A year later, 

a Cambodian accused of murder was found hiding in the village wat.20 In early 1925, 

a Cambodian official, sent to collect delinquent taxes in a nearby commune was set 

upon and beaten by what he called "fifty or sixty" local people.21 Interestingly, 

Bardez refused to press charges against the assailants, blaming the official for tactless 

and bullying behavior. Allegedly the official had harangued the people, saying the 

taxes must be paid, and suggested that village women could prostitute themselves, if 

necessary, to raise the money. In one account at the trial, this suggestion drew an 

astute reply: 

No one would want us. We are ugly and dirty. But 

your wife, who's beautiful, and wears jewelry, and 

perfumes herself, could easily do what you suggest.22 

17. La cloche fe/ee 24 January 1926. 

18. Echo annamite, 12 December 1925. 

19. AOM 3 E 11 (4) Second trimester report, 1922, Kompong Chhnang. 

20. AOM 3 E (4) First trimester report, 1923, Kompong Chhnang. 

21. AOM 3 E (4) First trimester report, 1925, Kompong Chhnang. 

22. La voix libre 16 December 1925.


With hindsight, another premonition of the killings occurred in January, 1925, 

when a delegation of about a hundred peasants visited Bardez in Kompong Chhnang 

to complain that taxes were too heavy, and that they had no cash.23 On this occasion, 

Bardez promised to give them extra time to pay, and the petitioners went home. 

It is unclear why Bardez decided to tour the province himself in April, 1925. 

Baudouin, disturbed by the two incidents just mentioned, may have ordered his protege 

to take a firmer stand. For at least two reasons, it seems unlikely that the fatal 

tournee was entirely Bardez' idea. The timing was unfortunate, for one thing, because 

it coincided with the week-long celebrations, taking place throughout the kingdom, of 

Buddhist New Year. Moreover, Bardez does not seem to have been certain of success. 

Testifying at the trial, a colleague said that Bardez had told him, shortly before setting 

out: 

The situation is serious. I'm harrassed with the Tinh 

affair, and there's no money ... What's to be done? 

Can the Governor General help us? 24 

Whatever had impelled him to visit the countryside, when he got there he 

behaved with efficiency, doggedess, and flair. In each khum, or group of viiiages, he 

followed a set routine. People from outlying viilages had been summoned several days 

before by messages from the mekhum, or oommunal headman. Many would have been 

planning to visit each khum in any case, for the new year celebrations; In two visits 

preceding the fatal one, Bardez had consulted with local elite figures-particularly the 

mekhum and the monks of the local war-before asking delinquent taxes be paid in the 

open-sided communal meeting hall, or sa/a, usually located along-side the wat. These 

visits appear to have gone smoothly enough, but after visiting these other villages, Bardez 

sent a note to his assistant in Kompong Chhnang, asking that a detachment of militia be 

readied to accompany him on the rest of the tour, in view of the difficulties he expected 

to encounter. He made notes of the tour, to be included in a subsequent report, that 

probably stressed his pessimism and the stubborn response of local people, for the 

notebook was impounded by the prosecution, and denied to the defense, on the grounds 

that it was "confidential" and "political".2s As far as I can tell, no one has consulted it 

since the trial, and it may well have disappeared. 

Bardez arrived at Kraang Laev at around 8: 00 a.m. on April 18.26 He was 

accompanied by an interpreter, Suon, a militiaman, Lach, and a Vietnamese cook. 

23. Echo annamite 14 December 1925. 

24. Echo du Cambodge, 23 December 1925. 


26. The following account is drawn from stenographic accounts of the trial; these have been 

checked against the remarkably accurate memories of Sok Bith.


The village headman, Phal, had already assembled between fifty and sixty village elders 

in the sa/a; a crowd estimated by several witnesses as 500, summoned for the occasion, 

were seated outside, in the sun. 

When he arrived, Bardez told the headman that the village had paid few of 

its taxes for several years. When Phal and the abbot of the wat pleaded that this was 

because no one had any money. Bardez pointed ironically at the newly redecorated 

wat, which had been paid for by public subscription. He then made the mekhum read 

out the royal ordinance of November 1924 to the assembled crowd. The mekhum was 

followed by the abbot, who told the crowd that the taxes should be paid because people 

should always honour their parents, and the French were now playing this role. 

But no money was forthcoming and Bardez now ordered that three men in the 

sa/a, picked at random, be tied up as hostages until all the outstanding taxes had been 

paid. At around 10: 00 a.m., he sent a message to Kompong Chhnang, some 14 

kilometers away, requesting a detachment of militia. These reinforcements left 

Kompong Chhang around noon, but were too late to avert the killings at Kraang Laev. 

Toward 11 : 00 a.m , the situation in the sa/a seems to have been calm enough 

for Bardez to eat a meal prepared for him by his cook. The hostages in the sa/a were 

not released. Soon after Bardez returned, however, the wife of one of them approached 

mekhum with the money for her husband's taxes. She had borrowed the sum-$5.35- 

from the mekhum's wife, and now begged that her husband be released, so he could 

go home for lunch. According to the defense, Bardeztold her rudelytofouter /ecamp; 

the prosecution alleged that he asked her politely to wait; Bith insists that Bardez told 

her that none of the hostages would be released until all tne taxes owing had been paid. 

In any case, all of the sources agree that no one was released. At this point, Biht says: 

I told her ... the table was there; and the French ..• we 

were over here, on this side ... I told her, "Take your 

husband away", and she touched her husband on the 

arm. When I said this the soldier raised his rifle, and 

pointed it at me, and cocked it, pruk pruk, so we pushed 

the rifle away and punched him. Soon everyone was 

punching p/up p/up and fighting; the three had fallen 

to the ground [i.e. outside the sa/a], and people came 

up and beat them some more, until the three were dead 

oil the ground. 

It was revealed at the trial that none of the three died instantly. The 

militiaman, disarmed, injured, and attempting to escape, was beaten to death a 

hundred meters or so from the sa/a, while Bardez, already severely hurt, was being


nursed in the wat by the abbot and the mekhum. The people who had kiUed the 

militiaman returned and beat Bardez to death; twenty-four wounds were later found 

on his body, although no formal autopsy was performed. The interpreter was killed 

last. The weapons used against the three included the miltiaman's rifle-butt, staves 

from the fence around the sa/a, and (in two cases) knives. 

When the three were dead, all the villagers streamed out of Kraang Laev 

apparently leaving only the monks behind. According to Sok Bith, they were headed 

for Kompong Chhnang, on foot and using "over a hundred" ox carts, with the vague 

idea, it seems of attacking the residence. They were intercepted en route by the 

militiamen summoned earlier by Bardez, after their numbers had swollen to perhaps a 

thousand. They scattered and returned to Kraang Laev, when shots were fired into the 

a1r. Bith took advantage of the confusion to flee to Pursat, where he was arrested about 

a month later; the militiamen, on the other hand, proceeded to Kraang Laev, where the 

bodies were recovered, and taken to Kampong Chhnang. 

The defense lawyers at the trial, and Bith fifty-five years later, stressed that 

the murders were communal actions. Bith says that "the whole village'' took part; 

he blames the affair specifically on the contretemps involving the hostage's wife, and 

more generally on the hardship imposed by the padi taxes. 

The French and their proteges in Phnom Penh moved swiftly to defuse and 

take control of the situation. The royal ordinance condemning the village was 

promulgated by the 23rd. By then, the French official in charge of political affairs 

in Cambodia, Chassang, had already visited the region, accompanied by the king's 

eldest son, Prince Monivong, who was himself to be crowned king two years later. 

Within two weeks, over two hundred villagers were rounded up for questioning. In 

an obscure incident, in June, the prime suspect, Neou, was shot and then beheaded by 

local officials while resisting arrest.27 He soon became, for the prosecution, the 

mastermind of the incident, and the lynchpin of their case that lawless outsiders eager 

to rob Bardez had committed the crime, rather than local people disturbed by his 

conduct and by excessive taxes. 

It is not clear how Neou and his accomplice, Chuon, both wanted by the 

police, had been able to obtain asylum in Kraang Laev; similarly, their presence at 

the incident (when they could have stayed concealed) suggests bravado on their part, 

although this is not the same as premeditation. Charged with using a lethal weapon 

in the attack (a charge substantiated by Sok Bith), Chuon was in due course condemned 

to death. 

27. Echo Annamite, 12 December 1925. The event had occurred in June 1925. Neou had served 

a jail sentence for robbery, and was a fugitive from another, imposed for walking away from 

corvee labor engaged in building a landing strip near Kompong Chhnang earlier in 1925.


Eighteen suspects came to trial in Phnom Penh in December 1925. 

proceedings attracted wide attention. A pro-government claque attended every day, 

applauding prosecution statements, and ridiculing the defense. Unfortunately for 

their ideas of justice, the trial was also attended by journalists from Saigon, including 

Andre Malraux, and others who were hostile to Baudouin and interested, more 

generally, in colonial reform. 

Just as Malraux and others opposed to French colonial injustice sought to 

expand the focus of the trial, so too the French administrators, battling against 

intensifying nationalist pressures, particularly in the components of Vietnam, hastened 

to take a narrow view of Bardez' assassination. 

The 

They were understandably nervous 

about the intentions of the recently appointed socialist governor-general of Indo-China 

Alexandre Varenne;28 the trial of the Vietnamese patriot, Phan Boi Chau, was taking 

place at the same time as the trial in Phnom Penh;2 9 

and another Vietnamese 

nationalist, Phan Chu Trinh, recently returned from France, was agitating for extensive 

colonial reforms.30 

French officials saw little point in allowing the Bardez trial to 

become a political forum; the defense, however, found conditions ideal to make it one. 

Although the guilt of most of the defendants was never seriously in doubt 

(and was admitted in 1980 by Bith) the tactics of the prosecution at the trial were 

heavy-handed and often farcical. as they tried to head off any discussion of French 

taxation policies, any criticism of Bardez, or any evidence which contradicted their 

argument that the culprits were outsiders, who had wanted to rob the resident. There 

was even a clumsy attempt by someone to poison the principal lawyer for the defense, 

Gallet, and a stenographer hired by the defense was forced to return to her former 

employer while the trial was still going on, probably to prevent further transcripts of 

testimony appearing in the anti-government Saigon press. 

Andre Malraux, for one, was infuriated by the procedures followed by the 

court. When the trial was over, he parodied it in the pages of his Saigon journal, 

Indochine Enchainee: 

28. See William Frederick, ··Alexandre Varenne and Politics in Indochina 1925 -1926", in Walter 

Vella (ed.) Aspects of Vietnamese History, Honolulu 1973, pp. 95-159. See also Langlois, 

Andre Malraux, op. cit. pp. 163-180. 

29. See David Marr, Vietnamese Anti-Colonialism, Berkeley, 1971, pp. 265-268. 

30. Marr. Vietnamese Anti-COlonialism, op. cit. pp. 269-271. The year 1927 was also the highwater 

mark of the Constitutionalist Party, which urged co-operation with the French authorities. 

See R.B. Smith, "Bui Quang Chieu and the Constitutionalist Party in Indo-China" 

Modern Asian Studies, III/2 (1969) 131-150.


1. Every defendant will have his head cut off. 

2. Then he will be defended by a lawyer. 

3. The lawyer will have his head cut off. 

4. And so on.31 

Another, much younger observer was Nhek Tioulong, then a student at the 

College Sisowath, and in later life a provincial governor, commander of the Cambodian 

army, and a trusted confidante of Sihanouk's throughout the Sihanouk era. Tioulong 

recently asserted that the defense lawyer, Gallet, was especially eloquent, "flapping his 

sleeves dramatically" when he made his points.32 

Sok Bith now feels that his trial was fair. One revelation in his testimony is 

that prosperous businessmen in Phnom Penh and Saigon (he uses the word taokay, 

suggesting that they were Chinese) anonymously aided the defense, providing "baskets 

of money" for the lawyers and presents of food and cigarettes to the prisoners. A crippled 

Cambodian lawyer named Nuon was also helpful to the defendants. Bith recalls 

Nuon's remark that it wasn't the village which was direchhan ("bestial"), but the king 

himself, a mot that still made him chuckle half a century after it had been made. 

Nhek Tioulong contends that Nuon's partisan behaviOr led to his being demoted by 

the French soon after the trial was over. 

When Bith returned home, after serving fifteen years for what he calls "a 

single punch in the face" (this was, in fact, the charge made against him) he resumed 

work in Kraang Laev as a rice-farmer and an tapper of sugar-palms. Anti-French 

guerillas in the late 1940s, knowing of his implication in the affair, sought him out and 

tried, unsuccessfully, to recruit him. Apparently he has never been happy with being 

known as a revolutionary, preferring to view his conduct in the context of the day 

Bardez was killed. During the Pol Pot years, he told Kiernan, he was "an old man ... 

concerned to stay alive, that's all". 

In a 1971 novel about the killings, Phum Direchan, the republican writer 

Dik Kearn argued that Neou and Chuon planned to kill Bardez, with the knowledge 

that they would be executed for the crime.33 No evidence from 1925, or in Bith's 

recollections, can be cited in support of this contention although he admits that both 

of them used knives in the attack. And yet, rebellious peasants are a fixture in most 

31. Quoted in Langlois, op. cit. p. 197. 

32. Interview with Nhek Tioulong, Bangkok, 29 August l 981. 

33. Dik Kearn, Phum Direchan, op. cit. pp. 68-69. Although the book takes the from of a novel, 

Dik Kearn claims to have interviewed survivors of the incident. Dik Kearn was murdered as 

a •·class enemy" in northeastern Cambodia in 1977. During my research in Cambodia in 

1970-1971, he was unfailingly kind to me and to other scholars interested in Cambodia's past.


post-colonial ideologies, especially those which, like Cambodia's, contain a strong antimonarchic 

component. In a sense, premeditation and heroes are essential, for such an 

iconographic incident to be legitimate, and events can often be transformed into 

something else by the need for a more useful interpretation, like the need for heroes. 

Little can be said in defence of the French taxation system in Cambodia. 

Testimony at the trial, and information in contemporary sources, reveal that in some 

ways it placed exceptionally heavy burdens on ordinary people, while funds collected 

in Cambodia were often funnelled elsewhere in the Federation. Indeed, writing in 

1935, a French resident suggested that anyone interested in stirring up trouble among 

Cambodians might do well to emphasize the inequities of the taxation system, vis a vis 

the other components of lndo-China.3 4 Certainly they were outrageously heavy in 

comparison to what French citizens were asked to pay, and they were heavy in terms 

of any benefits from them returning to the peasants. At the same time, the persistence 

of abuse, and of short-falls between what was asked for and what was paid, meant that 

in many cases people paid less taxes than they were supposed to pay, or none at all. 

As Sok Bith remarked, people were poor, and uncomfortable about paying so many 

taxes, but they had enough to eat. 

Why was the affair unique? One answer is that Bardez, stepping out of 

character and behaving like a Cambodian official, was treated like one by the villagers 

of Kraang Laev. 

Very few residents in the 1920s, or later, made the same mistake. 

The lesson of the incident, in fact, was that villagers were better off left, if not to their 

own devices, then to the types of indigenous "control" to which they were accustomed. 

Bardez insisted, recklessly, on removing some of the flexibility from the tax-collection 

system by collecting taxes himself. 

restless crowd. 

His presence in the village offended the large and 

Perhaps he was banking on their proverbial peaceability. He made 

no allowance, it seems, for the likelihood that many of the men in the crowd would 

have been drinking sugar palm-wine, in the sun, as the day wore on. 

He made things 

worse for himself by taking hostages at random, without sufficient force to back up his 

decision. 

Bardez' error, in other words, was his decision, which may have been wrung 

from him by officials in Phnom Penh, to go into the village himself. Something about 

the village, or the crowd, made him sufficiently nervous to summon reinforcements 

from Kompong Chhnang; at the same time, his conduct in Kraang Laev appears to 

have been edgier and more exasperated than it had been in the villages he had visited 

earlier. 

34. AOM 3 E 15 (8): Annual report from Kampot, 1935.


To make an assesment of the affair, we can dismiss it, as the Echodu Cambodge 

did in an early report, as a "crapulous crime" ,3s or, in the prosecution's words, not ''a 

Cambodian crime, but only a crime, of a few individuals who in no way resemble the 

Cambodian". This assessment begs the question of what "proper" Cambodian 

behavior is, and archival records reveal quite a different picture about rural violence 

in the 1920s and 1930s than is purveyed by French mythology. Another view, taken 

by the defense, was that the vi!lage was collectively at fault, that the "crowd had been 

its own leader", provoked by an unjust syetem (which affected the entire country, 

after all) and Bardez' extreme behavior. Maitre Gallet pointed out that several hundred 

people had been arrested for the crime at first, and noted that the palace itself had 

already collectivized the guilt, by stigmatizing the village as a whole before anyone 

had come to trial. 

This is Sok Bith's view. He links the village's behavior to the heaviness of 

taxes as well as to Bardez' behavior on the 18th. 

The notion that Cambodians could organize themselves in a just cause, however 

fitted poorly with French conceptions-still prevalent in the 1920s-about the "Cambodian 

race", and France's obligation towards it. Perhaps part of this misperception had 

to do with France's colonial mission. If the Cambodians could look after themselves, 

in other words, were French days in Cambodia numbered? And if Cambodians could 

make up their minds, acting together, how could they be governed? 

They could be governed in part by dissolving their solidarity, by passages a 

tabac, and by forcing them to testify against themselves. They could be governed, 

also, by being detached from the Cambodian state, and renamed "Bestial". And 

they could be governed in the old way, by their own officials, because no other way 

had yet occurred to anyone. It's clear that the royal family saw the incident in part in 

terms of {ese majeste. This is because government in the kingdom had always been 

"royal business" (rajakar); in the provinces, the word for "govern" also meant 

"consume". These arrangements had been in effect in Combodia for centuries; the 

the French had found them easy enough to use, once they had bought off the Cambodian 

elite. In traditional Cambodia, when a village of a group of people refused to be 

governed in this way, they were defying the structure of the state (since participation 

meant being consumed) and had to be removed from it. This is the rationale behind 

the Direchan decree. 


36. A French official writing in 1916 observed that'"French residents lack sufficient influence in 

their provinces. The population appears to ignore them completely" : quoted in L. Vignon, 

Un programme de politique colonia/e. Les questions indigenes. Paris, 1919, 289n.


To Cambodian thinkers of the 1940's, or to historians of Indo-China in search 

of trends, watersheds and turning-points, the Bardez incident offers a rare example of 

rural Cambodians uniting in an anti-colonial cause. For this reason, Bardez' assassins 

have been made heroic, because heroes are needed for self-respecting "national" history. 

In examining this particular case, however, it is legitimate to ask how much further 

beyond Kraang Laev its significance can really be extended. Certainly the incident 

reveals a reservoir of indigenous violence which normally worked itself out on other 

villagers, or on Cambodian officials; similarly, it shows that the French had no clear 

reason to count on much good will when they stepped down from the heights of the 

residence and began to push rural Cambodians around. But whether it can be treated 

as a prologue to nationalism is less clear. The villagers killed Bardezandhis assistants 

because, in their view, the three had no business being there, and because Bardez was 

unfair not to release the hostage who had paid his taxes. The villagers' gesture, then, 

was neither an heroic premonition of nationalist struggle nor the squalid plot alleged 

by the prosecution. Instead, it was a gesture of some exasperated men, whom the 

crowd, palm wine, and Bardez' outrageous conduct had encouraged to behave as if they 

were in charge of Kraang Laev, and not the French. Evidence at the trial suggests 

that when their fervour waned (after the crowd moving on Kompong Chhnang had 

been dispersed) they returned, ashamed, to the village, and before long were turning 

one another in to the police. Whatever they were, the villagers were not habitual 

killers. At the same time, if Sok Bith's recollections are any indication, as time went 

on they took a kind of collective responsibility for their momentary liberating gesture, 

and harbored few regrets. 37 

37. According to Dik Keam, op. cit. p. 119, Bardez' body was exhumed in 1970 and removed to 

France.

THE RAMA STORY IN THE THAI CULTURAL TRADITION 

S. SINGARAVELU* 

The Rania story in Thai cultural tradition is represented in folklore as well as 

in various forms of artistic expression such as shadow-play, dance-drama, sculpture, 

painting, and literature. 

1. The Rima Story and Thai Folklore 

The Thai people since the ancient times have believed that the Rima story was 

set on Thai soil, and consequently some of the cities, towns, villages, mountains, and 

lakes have been popularly associated with the legend.' Thus, for example, the new 

city founded by the Thai king U Thong in 1350 A.D., was called Ayutbayi after the name 

of Ayodbyi, the capital city of king Dasaratha and his successor Rima. It is also 

noteworthy that the name Ayutbayi still forms part of the official name of Bangkok, 

which is the present-day capital of Thailand.2 A town, situated north of Ayuthayi 

in Thailand, is called Lopburi (Lavapuri) and it is associated with Rima's son Lava. 

The same town has also been given a nickname, that is, Nophburi (Navapuri), which 

is c~>nnected with Hanumin. According to the Thai tradition, Rima shot an arrow in 

the air, and Nophburi as a new city of Hanumin was built where Rama's arrow fell. 

It is also believed that the beat from Rima's arrow turned the ground around the town 

white hot and therefore the ground has remained white and fertile to the present. 

Moreover, as a proof of the town's relationship with Hanumin, the local authorities 

are said to have founded a colony of monkeys on a rock near the centre of the town. 

The village named Kukhan near Sisaket is named after the king of the bunters Kukhan 

or Guha, who is also said to have ruled a kingdom known as Buriram, which is the 

name of a town near Sisaket. It is believed that the medicinal herbs, found by 

Hanuman to resuscitate the dead, are still to be found on a mountain called Khao 

Sanphaya near Lopburi. The flat area atop the mountain is said to have been formed 

by Hanumin in tossing his tail around the summit of the mountain like a lasso to 

obtain the herbs. The water of a lake known as Thale Chup Son is considered to be 

sacred, because Rima is believed to have immersed his arrow in the lake. In 1854 

*· Professor and Head of Department of Indian Studies, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. 

1. Sathien Koset (Phya Anuman Rajadhon), Upakorn Ramakien (Bangkok: Fine Arts Department, 

B.E. 2495, A.D. 1952), pp. 181 ff.; C. Ve1der. "Notes on the Riima Saga in Thailand," 

JSS., Vol. 56, pt. 1 (January 1968), pp. 44-46. 

2. The principal portion of the official name of Bangkok is as follows : Krungthebmahanakhorn 

buanratanakosin mahintharayuthaya mahadilokphob nopharatrachathaniburirom. 

50.

THE RAMA STORY IN THE THAI CULTURAL TRADITION 51 

A.D., the weapons of the Thai king Monkut were sprinkled with the water of the lake 

in order to strengthen them by the power of Rama. 

The impact of the Rima story in the Thai folk tradition is also evident from 

several expressions of proverbial value, which are traceable to the Rima story. Thus, 

for example, 'to fly further from Lanka' means 'to overdo somethmg' and this expression 

is apparently derived from the episode in which Hanuman during his journey towards 

Lanka is said to have flown beyond Lanka, because of his enthusiasm to find the 

whereabouts of Sita quickly. The expression "To measure the hoofprint' means 'to be 

disrespectful to one's parents' and this meaning is connected with the episode in which 

the buffalo named Thoraphi measures his hoof in the hoofprint of his father, because 

he wants to kill him as soon as he is grown up. In the same sense, the saying 'a child 

like Thoraphi' is used of one who does not obey his parents. The expression 'Origkot 

(Angada) rolls his tail' refers to a boaster, because Ongkot rolls up his tail and sits on 

it in order to be of equal height with Rava~a. The name Thosakan (Dasaka~!ha, or 

Rava~a) is used to refer to one, who does not have good manners. The expression 

'beautiful as Sita' is considered to be the highest compliment to be paid to a girl of 

great beauty. If she has finely drawn eyebrows, the expression 'her brows are drawn 

like the bow of Rama' is used. The Rama story is also connected with magic incantations, 

and it is also believed that one who is able to read the complete story in seven 

days and seven nights can cause rain to fall for three days and three nights. 

As regards the Thai folk versions of the Rama story, a recent comparative 

study of the Thai folk versions entitled Phra Lak-Phra Lam, Rama Jataka, Horaman, 

Prommachak and Ramakien has shown that the Rama story in the course of transmission 

as folk tales has undergone several changes of detail, expansion, reduction, and 

transposttlon. Changes of detail are to be found particularly in the why-motifs and 

the how-motifs of the various characters' deeds, and these variations are found to occur 

usually at the beginning, at the juncture and at the end of the story. Local folk tales 

have also helped to furnish new materials. For example, in the northeastern version 

of Phar Lak-Phra Lam, the Naga ('serpent') is added as one of the most popular 

characters and there are episodes about a Niiga building a city for Rama's ancestors, 

and the Naga-king's daughters are given in marriage to both Rama and Hanuman. It 

is also found that Riima is turned into a typical folk romance hero, who takes a number 

of minor wives as he goes through the series of battles with the demons. Another 

characteristic of these folk versions is that they retain only the major characters such 

as Rama, Sitii, Rava~a, Valin, Sugriva and Hanuman. This reduction in the number 

of characters means a simplification of plot. Interchange or transposition of episodes 

and characters also occurs in the folk versions, and in some cases, Rama, Raval?-a, Valin 

and Sugriva are said to be the offsprings of the same ancestors; Indrajit becomes 

Rava~a's brother; and Vibhi~a~a is replaced by one of Rava~a's sons. It would thus

52 S. Singaravelu 

seem that as the Rama story passes through folk tradition, it undergoes changes and 

adapts itself to the local environment.! 

2. The _Rima Story and the Thai Shadow-Play 

The basic repertoire of the Thai shadow-play known as the Nang2 consists 

exclusively of the episodes drawn from theRamastory.3 A favourite theme of the Nang 

in the ancient t1mes is the campaign of war waged by Raval?a's brothers Khorn (Khara), 

Thiit (Du~aJ?a) and Trisian (Trisiras) against Riima and his companions after Raval?a's 

sister Sammanakha (SiirpaJ?akha) is mutilated by Riima and Lak~maJ?a when she tries 

to molest Sita. The other popular episodes played by the Nang performers include the 

episode in which the demon Maiyarab (Maht RiivaJ?a) abducts Rama, who is then 

rescued by Hanuman. 4 It may be also noted in this connexion that the Nang Yai figures 

found in the Ledermuseum in Offenbach, Germany, depict other episodes such as Rama 

1. Siraporn Thitathan, Ramakien: A Study in Tale Transmission, M A. thesis, Department of 

Thai Language. Graduate School, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 1979. 

2. The earliest known reference to the Thai shadow-play is to be found in the Palatine Law of 

the Thai king Boromatrailokanath, enacted in 1458. There is also a mention of the Nang in 

the Romance of the Lady Nophamas, which is an eighteenth century prose work depicting the 

royal court life of the thirteenth century Sukhothai kingdom. According to H_H, Prince Dhani 

Nivat, the Thai Nang had its origin in the Sumatran-based Sri Vijaya kingdom and since the 

time it reached the Menam valley in Thailand, it has developed into a distinctively Thai artistic 

form. There are two major types of the Nang, performed at night, and they are known as 

the Nang Yai ('~hadow-play of large hide-figures') and the Nang Talung ('Shadow-play of 

small hide-figures from Pattalung', a southern province of Thailand). When the Nang Y ai is 

played, each large hide-figure of originally one two metres in size is held up by its two poles 

on either hand of the performer in frcnt of a white screen, which is lit from behind. As the 

performer mampulates the figure, he bends and sways at the same time keeping time with his 

foot movements to the accompaniment of recitation of the episode and music. The smaller 

hide-figures of the Nang Talung are akin to those of the Wayang Kulit in Malaysia, and their 

movable arms and legs are manipulated by the performer from behind a screen. The third 

type of the Thai Nang is known as the Nang Ram or Rabam, and it used to be performed in 

day-time with coloured hide-figures. See Rene Nicolas, ''Le theatre d'ombres au Siam," JSS., 

Vol. 21 (1927), pp. 37-51 and Plates 1-17; H.H. Prince Dhani Nivat, The Nang, Thai Culture 

New Series No.3, 3rd edition, Bangkok: The Fine Arts Department, B. E. 2505, A.D. 1962, 

16 pp. and Plates. 

3. Phya Anuman Rajadhon, A Brief Survey of Cultural Thailaud (Thailand Culture Series No.2, 

4th edition, Bangkok: The National Culture Institute, B. E. 2499, A.D. 1956), p. 13. According 

to H.H. Prince Dhani Nivat, the repertoire of the Nang in the old times included a Thai 

poem entited Samudghos of the seventeenth century A D., and later also the romance of the 

Javanese hero Panji. H.H. Prince Dhani Nivat, The Nang (Bangkok, B.E. 2505, A.D. 1962), 

pp. 12-13. 

4. H.H. Prince Dhani Nivat, The Nang (Bangkok, B.E. 2505, A.D. 1962), p. 12.


stringing the bow in the archery contest for the hand of Slta, Rama pitching camp on 

the seashore opposite the fortress of Rava:J?.a in LaJ:?kii and holding a council of war, 

Vibhi~aJ:].a's daughter Beiiyakay disguising herself as Sita to float midstream as if dead 

near Rima's camp in an attempt to dissuade Rama from continuing his campaign of 

war, the building of the causeway, Angada's mission to Lanka as Rima's emissary, 

Hanuman's adventures, the battles of RavaJ:].a's son Indrajit, and the battle between 

Rima and Ra va:J?.a.l 

3. The Rima Story and the Classical Thai Drama 

The classical Thai dramatic art has in all times drawn its subjects from the 

Rima story. For example, the repertoire of the Thai Masked Play known as the 

Khon 2 is exclusively taken from the Rima story. The performers of the Khon, except 

those playing the divine and human roles, wear masks3 and enact the story to the 

accompaniment of music and the recitation of texts containing poetic versions of the 

story composed by ancient poets. The recitations by the master of the Khon known as 

K'on P'ak, are of two kinds, namely, the K'am P'ak and the Ceraca. The K'am P'ak 

is the chanda poetry of the type specified as the Kab (K'iivya), and the Ceraca is the 

dialogue in rhythmic prose known as rai, which may also include description of action 

on stage. 4 The classical dramatic version of the Rama story in Thai, which is 

considered to be the most suitable for the presentation of the Khan on stage, is that of 

king Phra Phutthaloetla (1809-1824 A.D.), who is also known as king Rima II of the 

Cakri dynasty.s The greater number of episodes from the Rima story presented in 

the Khon relate to the various phases of battle between Rima and Rava:J?-8. The most 

popular episodes presented in the Khon by the Royal Department of Fine Arts in 

1. H.H. Prince Dhani Nivat, "Hide Figures of the Ramakien at the Ledermuseum in Offenbach, 

Germany," JSS., Vol. 53, pt. 1 (January 1965), pp. 61-66 and 88 plates. 

2. H.H. Prince Dhani Nivat and Dhanit Yupho, The Khon, Thai Culture New Series No. 6, 3rd 

edition, Bangkok: The Fine Arts Department, B.E. 2505, A.D. 1962. 

3. Dhanit Yupho, Khon Masks, Thai Culture New Series No. 7, 2nd edition, Bangkok: The 

Fine Arts Department, B.E. 2505, A.D. 1962. The masks worn by the performers playing 

the roles of the demonic and simian characters are of various kinds. For example, Ravatta's 

mask is in the form of a two-tiered crown with the lower tier showing demonic faces and the 

top tier showing a celestial face. Vibhi~al}a's mask consists of a gourd-like crown. Hanumin 

wears a white coronet. 

4. H. H. Prince Dhani Nivat and Dhanit Yupho, The Khon (Bangkok, B.E. 2505, A.D. 1962), pp. 

3-4. 

5. Ibid., p. 6; Bot Lakhon ruang Ramakien, Phrarachanlphon Somdet Phra Phuttaloetla naphalal 

(Bangkok, 1956).


Bangkok include those relating to the abduction of Rima by the demon Maiyarab, 

Hanumin's journey to Lanka, and the fire-ordeal of Siti.l 

Another form of the classical Thai drama is known as Lakhon, and it is played 

by actors and actresses, who sing and speak on suitable occasions during the performances. 

Though the repertoire of the Lakhon is generally drawn from the romantic 

tales of kings and demons composed in verse for the purpose, the Rama story also 

offers a wide range of subjects of the performance of the Lakhon to suit the tastes of 

the rural and the urban audience.2 

4. · The Rima Story in Thai Sculpture and Painting 

Both the oral and written tradition of the Rima story is represented in the Thai 

fine arts such as sculpture and mural painting. The chief characters as well as episodes 

of the Rima story form part of the decoration in Buddhist temple8. For example, the 

Wat Phra Jetubon (Chethuphon) in Bangkok displays 152 marble panels of relief 

sculptures, which relate the episodes of the Rima story from Riva:q.a's abduction of 

Slti to the fall of a demon known as Sahasadecha,3 Many temples show sculptures 

of the monkey warriors and the subdued demons as the guardians of doors in temples 

such as the Royal Temple and the Wat Arun in Bangkok. The doors of the Wat 

Phra Jetubon show scenes from the Rima stroy inlaid in mother of pearl. 4 

As regards mural paintings, the oldest Thai murals from the Ayuthayi period 

(14th-18th centuries A.D.) depicting the Rima story are to be seen in the cave of 

Yala.5 In Bangkok, several Buddhist temples are decorated with murals depicting the 

Rima legend. The entourage of Rima is seen on the walls between the windows of 

the Wihan in Wat Suthat dating from the mid-19th century A.D. The arcades of the 

Emerald Buddha temple in the compound of the Royal Palace are decorated with 178 

panels of mural paintings depicting the Rima story from king Janaka's discovery of 

Siti to the final restoration of Siti to Rima.6 These murals date from the time of the 

Thai king Phra Nang Klao (1824-1851 A.D.), who is also known as king Rima III, 

and they were renovated again in 1927 during the reign of king Prajadipok (1925-1935 

A.D.), who is also known as King Rima VII. 

1. Dhanit Yupho, The Khon and Lakon, Dance dramas presented by the Department of Fine Arts 

(Bangkok: The Fine Arts Department, 1963), pp. 1-71. 

2. Ibid., pp. 73-260. 

3. J.M. Cadet, The Ramakien, the Thai epic. Illustrated with the bas-reliefs of Wat Phra Jetubon, 

Bangkok. Tokyo : Kodansha International Ltd., 1971. These panels of sculptures are said to 

have been brought from Ayuthayi after the fall of the city in 1767 A.D. C. Velder, op. cit., p. 

43. 

4. C. Velder, "Notes on the Rima Saga in Thailand," ISS., Vol. 56, pt. 1 (January 1968), p. 43. 

5. Ibid., p. 42. 

6. The Ramakien Murals, Bangkok: Vanchalerm Kanchanamongkol World Press Co., Ltd., 1968.


5. The Rima Story in Thai Literature 

The earliest known reference in a Thai document to the Rama legend occurs 

in the inscription of king Rama Khamhaeng of 1292 A.D., which is also the earliest 

known record in Thai language. The inscription, while enumerating the geographical 

location of important sites in the Sukhothai kingdom, mentions two caves named after 

Rama and Sita near the Sampat river in the vicinity of the capital. Subsequently 

during the reign of the Ayuthaya ruler Ramathibodi in the fifteenth century A.D., two 

verses relating to the royal consecration of water refer to Rama and his brother 

Lak~ma~a. Rima's victory over the demons in Lanka is mentioned in a poem 

composed during the reign of king Boromatrailokanath (1448-1488 A.D.). King 

Dasaratha and Sita are mentioned in some verses composed during the reign of king 

Phra Naray (1656-1688 A.D.), while another poem of the same period speaks of Riima 

and his sacred arrow subduing the demons in Lanka. King Janaka's discovery of Sita 

and Rama's mutilation of Surpai?-akhii are mentioned in a Lakhon text, belonging to 

the eighteenth century A.D. During the Thonburi period (1768-1782 A.D.), Phraya 

Mahanuphab's Nirat poem, dealing with the theme of lovers' separation, refers to the 

episode, in which Riima slays the demon Miirica in the form of a golden deer.' Apart 

from these scattered references to the particular characters and episodes of the Rama 

legend in various Thai literary works, there are also several early texts known as Kham 

Phak Ramakien and Bot Lakhon Ramakien dealing with specific episodes of the Riima 

legend, and some of them are believed to have been composed during the Ayuthaya 

period (1350-1767 A.D.) for the purpose of recitation in connexion with the shadow-play 

and other dramatic performances.2 It is also evident from some of the surviving 

fragments of the early Thai literary versions that the Rima story was well established 

in the Thai literary tradition during the Ayuthaya period.3 However, with the fall 

of Ayuthayii in 1767 A.D., almost all the works of Thai literature were lost. 

Subsequently in 1770, king Taksin of Thonburi is known to have composed a Lakhon 

version of the story,4 but this version only deals with certain adventures of Hanuman 

in Lanka and with the story of Rama's son known as Monkut. Then, the first monarch 

of the Bangkok period king Phra Phuttha Yotfa, who is also known as king Rima I of 

Cakri dynasty, initiated the task of collecting all the available materials pertaining to 

1. cr. Sathien Koset (Phya Anuman Rajadhon), Upakorn Rumakien (Bangkok: The Fine Arts 

Department. B.E. 2495, A.D. 1952), pp. 170-173; C. Velder, "Notes on the Rama Saga in 

Thailand," JSS .. Vol 56, pt. l (January 1968). pp. 34-35. 

2. cr. P. Schweisguth, Etude sur Ia Litterature Siamoise (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1951), 

pp. 395-397. 

3. C. Velder, op. cit., pp. 35-36. 

4. Bot Lakhon R'iimakien Phrarachaniphon Somdet Phra Cau Krung Thonburi, Bangkok, B.E. 2484, 

A.D. 1942.


the Rama story from the surviving _oral and written sources, and in 1798 A.D., he 

composed the most comprehensive Thai literary version known as the Ramakienl 

(Ramakirti, 'Rama's Glory'). Subsequently in 1815 A.D., king Phra Phutthaloetla 

(Rama II) wrote a dramatic version suitable for the Khan and Lakhon performances. 

Similar versions have also been composed by king Monkut (Rama IV) in 1825 and by 

king Wachirawut (Rama VI) in 1910. 

6. The Sources of The Thai Ramakien 

The question of the basic sources of the Thai Ramakien may be approached 

from the viewpoint of the geographical as well as the historical background of the Thai 

kingdom. From the geographical viewpoint, the Thai people have had as their neighbours 

the Laotians in the north, the Burmese in the west, the Khmers in the east and the 

Malays in the south. From the historical point of view, prior to the appearance of 

the Thai kingdom in the thirteenth century A.D., Menam valley, or what is· now 

central Thailand, was peopled by the Moo-speaking people of the lndianized Dvaravatl 

kingdom and later it was also part of the Indianized Khmer empire, while the Malay 

Peninsula was under the influence of the Sumatran-based Sr'i Vijaya empire. Therefore, 

when the Thai people began to inhabit the Menam valley as well as the northern region 

of the Malay Peninsula, they would have come in contact with several elements of the 

lndianized civilization of the areas, and the Rama story was no doubt one of the popular 

elements, which they adopted.2 

As regards the basic sources of the Thai literary version, it is geneally believed 

by Thai scholars that the Rama legend in the form of oral tradition reached the 

Menam valley together with the shadow-play through the Malay Peninsula from the 

Sri Vijaya empire.3 This view seems to be also supported by the fact that there is a 

great deal of similarity between the shadow-play versions of the Malay Peninsula and 

the Thai literary and dramatic versions in regard to several motifs and episodes of the 

1. Ramakien Phrarachaniphon ratchakan thi 1 (The Riimakien of the First Reign}, 4 Vols. Bangkok: 

Khruusapha, 1951. 

2. Phya Anuman Rajadhon, A Brief Survey of Cultural Thailand (4th edition, Bangkok: The 

National Culture Institute, B.E. 2499, A.D. 1956). pp. 3-7. 

3. Phya Anuman Rajadhon, Thai Literature in relation to the diffusion of her cultures (2nd edition, 

Bangkok: The Fine Arts Department, B.E. 2506, A.D. 1963), p. 10; H. H. Prince Dhani Nivat, 

The Nang (3rd edition, Bangkok: The Fine Arts Department, B.E. 2505, A.D. 1962), pp. 5-6; 

H. H. Prince Dhani Nivat and Dhanit Yupho, The Khan (3rd edition), Bangkok: The Fine Arts 

Department, B.E. 2505, A.D. 1962), pp. 5-6. See also P. Schweisguth, Etude sur Ia Litterature 

Siamoise (Paris: lmprimeria Nationale, 1951), pp. 63-65.


Rama story.l Furthermore, it is also noteworthy that some of the earliest known texts 

in Thai dealing with certain episodes of the Rama story are known to have been 

composed for the specific purpose of recitation during the shadow-play and other 

dramatic performances, and apparently some of these texts were also included in the 

collection of sources for the composition of the literary version. 

Though there is no doubt that the Thai literary version was derived mainly 

from the oral sources, there is also reason to believe that certain literary versions from 

the Indian sub-continent were also used as the sources for the composition of the Thai 

Ramakien by king Rama I, and these versions included the Sanskrit epic of Valmiki as 

well as the Tamil, Bengali, and Hindi versions of the Rama story.2 

7. The Major Characteristics of the Rimakien 

The Ramakien3 of king Rama I is a long poetic version composed in Thai 

metrical klon verse form, written originally on 102 folios, each folio consisting of 24 

pages, each page containing four lines of approximately 20 words each, and the entire 

work containing 52,086 verses and 195,840 words. It is to be noted, however, that, 

unlike the Indian versions, the Ramakien is not sub-divided either into major sections 

such as kanda or chapters, but for purposes of analysis, we may treat this work as 

consisting of three major parts, the first part dealing with the origin of the chief 

characters, the second part depicting the chief dramatic events of the story including 

the fall of Rava~a, and the final part describing the events which occur after Rama's 

conquest of RavaJ?a. 

A noteworthy feature of the first part of the Riimakien dealing with the origin 

of the chief characters is that it begins with the story of Phra Naray (Lord Naraya9a, 

1. Cf. P.L. Amin Sweeney, The R'iim'iiyaJJa and the Malay Shadow-Play (Kuala Lumpur: Penerbit 

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 1972), pp. 206-255. 

2. C. Velder, op. cit., p. 36; Phya Anumun Rajadhon. A Brief Survey of Cultural Thailand (Bangkok, 

B.E. 2499, A.D. 1956), p. 15; H.H. Prince Dhani Nivat and Dhanit Yupho, The Khan 

(Bangkok, B.E. 2505, A.D. 1962), PP- 5-6. 

3. Rtimakien Phrarachaniphon ratchakan thi I (The Ramakien of the FirstReign), 4 Vols., Bangkok: 

Khruusapha, 1951, 2976 pp. A summary translation of the Ramaklen in English by Swami 

Satyananda Puri and Charoen Sarahiran was published in 1940 and a reprint of it appeared in 

1949. A German translation of the R'iimak1en by C. Velder was publ1shed in 1962, and an 

English translation of this work by R.A. Olsson was published in 1968. See Riimakien 

(Ramakien) or the Thai version of the R'iimayana, Summary translation by Swami Satyananda 

Puri and Charoen Sarahiran, Bangkok : Dharmashrama and Prachandr Press, B.E. 24~3. A.D. 

I 940; reprint, Bangkok: Thai Bharat Cultural Lodge and Satyananda Puri Foundation, 1949; 

C. Velder, Der Kampf der Gotter Und Damonen, Aus dem Thailandischen Ramakien ubertragen 

und mit einem Nachwort versehen von C. Velder, Schwmfurt: Neues Forum, 1962; R.A. 

Olsson (Trans.)., The Ramakien, A Prose Translation of the Thai Ramiiyal}a, Bangkok : Praepittaya 

Company Limited Partnership, 1968.


or Vi~f?.U) in the form of a boar vanquishing the demon Hiranyak (HiraJ:?.yak~a),l and 

this is followed by an account of the origin and the antecedents of Riivaf?.a, who is 

known as Thosakan (Dasaka~!ha). According to the Ramakien, Phra Isuan (Lord 

isvara, or Siva) accords his servant Nonthok (Nandaka) a boon which will enable him 

to change his index finger into a diamond and destroy anyone at whom he points this 

finger, and as Nonthok begins to misuse his power, Phra Naray assumes the form of a 

charming young woman and dances in front of Nonthok, who also tries to imitate the 

the various movements of her hands. At a particular moment, Nonthok happens to 

point his diamond finger towards himself and instantly his bones are crushed by the 

power of his own finger. 2 Nonthok is Jeter reborn as Thosakan, who is said to be the 

son of Lastiyan (Pulastya). Thosakan's mother, who is named Rachada, gives birth 

to four other sons named Phiphek (Vibhi~a~a), Kumphakan (Kumbhakar~a), Khorn 

(Khara), and Thiit (Dii~a~a), and to a daughter named Sammanakha (SurpaJ:?.akha). 

Thosakan has also four other half-brothers named Kuperan (Kubera), Tephanasun 

Aksarathada, and Maran, who are born of Lastiyan's four other wives named Sumanta, 

Citramala, Suwanmala, and Prapai.3 Thosakan first marries Kala Akhi, who is the 

daughter of Kala Nakha (Kala Naga) of the Underworld, and later he receives Nang 

Mantho Thewi (Maq~odari), who is said to have been created from a frog4 by four 

1. The legend of the demon Hirarnak~a rolling up the earth like a mat and tucking it under his 

armpit before vanishing into the Underworld, where he is vanquished by Lord Vi~l}u in the 

form of boar is to be found in the Purunas such as the Narasimha-PurliiJa and the Bhagavata 

Pur'ii'!a (III, xvii-xix). This legend occurs as a prelude in the Ramaklen apparently because of 

another legend to be found in the Bhagavata-Purii'!a (III, xvi. 7-ll; VII, i, 35-46) that Hira!]. 

yak~a and his brother Hira11-yakasipu were the first of the three reincarnations of Lord Vi~nu's 

gatekeepers Jaya and Vijaya, to be later reborn as Riva9a and his brother Kumbhakarl}a. 

2. According to the Skanda-Purana (V. 3.6 7). Lord Siva bestows upon a demon named Kalapf~~ha 

the power of reducing anyone to ashes by touching the head of that person with his hand, and 

later when the demon wants to test his power on Lord Siva himself, Lord Vi~nu assumes the 

form of an enchantress and persuades the demon to place his hand on his own head and the 

demon is reduced to ashes. 

3. See diagram on Rava9a's genealogy in the Ramakien. The name Lastiyan appears to be a 

Tamil name-form, derived from Pulastiya!l, or Pulatriyan, for the Sanskrit name Pulastya. The 

names Kuperan and Maran are also identical with the Tamil name-forms KuberaiJ and Mara'!. 

for the Sanskrit names Kubera and Mara, though Maran does not figure as one of Riival}a's 

brothers in the Tamil literary version of the story. 

4. In the Dharmaparik:ra of the JainistAmitagati, Maf!.~odari's mother is said to be a frog-woman, 

who swallows the sperm of Maya the ascetic. Moreover, the motif of Nang Mantho Thewi 

being created from a frog is reminiscent of the Sanskrit term mal}diika meaning a 'frog'. Cf. 

A. Zieseniss The Rama Saga in Malaysia (Singapore, 1963), p. 111.


sages, as a gift from Phra Isuan in appreciation of Thosakan's help in setting the 

Kailasa mountain upright again after a demon named Virulhok has caused its tilting to 

one side.l The children, whom Thosakan begets during his conquest of the world, 

include a golden mermaid named Suphanna-Maccha, born of a fish, and two sons 

named Thosakirithorn and Thosakiriwan, born of a female elephant in the forest of 

Himaphan. Later he also begets a son by Nang Mantho Thew!, and he is at first 

named Ronapak, but after his victory over Indra, he is called Inthorochit (lndrajit). 

As regards the origin of the simian characters, Phali (Va:Iin) and Sukhrip 

(Sugrlva) are born of Kala Acanii, the wife of king Khodam (Gi5tama), as the result 

of her adultery with Phra In (lndra) and Phra Athit (Aditya, the sun-god), and when 

king Khodam immerses them into a lake in order to test their legitimacy, they become 

monkeys and vanish into the forest. Phra In and Phra Athit build a city known as 

Khidkhin (Ki~kindha) for their sons. 2 Phiili becomes the king of Khidkhin and 

Sukhrip his deputy. When the Sumen (Sumeru) mountain tilts to one side because of 

Ramsiiun hurling Phra Archun (Arjuna) at the mountain, Phali and Sukhrip help to 

push the mountain to its original position.3 Phra Isuan rewards PhaU with a trident 

and certain magic power which will transfer to Phaii half the strength of anyone who 

fights with him.4 Phra Isuan also rewards Sukhrip with a beautiful young maiden 

I. The role of Rival}a in trying to uproot the mountain of Kailiisa in the Hindu versions such as 

the Sanskrit epic of Valmiki (VII, 16} and the Tamil Uttarakaf!lam of 0Hakkuttar (7 : 63-7 5} 

is apparently reversed to that of Riva~a setting the mountain upright again in the Ramakien 

(I, 134-144 J. 

2. The story relating to the birth of Phiili and Sukhrip in the Rumakien would seem to be the 

result of the combination as well as the modification of two different motifs to be found in the 

Sanskrit version of Valmiki, the Tamil version of Kamba!!. and the Tamil Uttarakuntam of 

O~~akkiittar, namely, the motif of Ahalya, who is the wife cf the sage Gautama, committing 

adultery with lndra, and the motif of a monkey king named J3,ksarajas jumping into a pool on 

the Meru mountain, being changed into a beautiful woman and later giving birth to Valin and 

Sugrfva, who have Indra and Siirya ('the sun-god'} as their fathers, respectively. RK., I, 72-86; 

V R., I, 48; VII, the first of the interpolated chapters occurring between Ch. 37 and Ch. 38; 

KR., I, 9: 74-79; IR (OU)., 11:43, pp. 920-921. 

3. The details of this episode in the Ramakien, such as the serpent Ananta wrapping himself 

around the Sumeru mountain, the gods and the demi-gods pulling the serpent while Phii1i 

pushes the mountain to its original position, are reminiscent of the episode in the Tamil 

version of Kamba!! (KR., IV, 5: 30, pp, 410-411), in which Valin is depicted as helping the 

gods and the demons in churning the Ocean of Milk while holding the head and tail of the 

serpent Visuki, who wraps himself around the Mandara mountain. 

4. The motif of Vilin taking away half the strength of his opponent is to be found in the Tamil 

version of Kamba~ (KR., IV, 3: 40}.


6----. 

Thada Phrohm 

(Ohota Brahma) 1-----6-~~~~il 

lastiyon 

0-----1 

Motlko 

6_ MALE 

0 FEMALE 

(Pulastya) 

o_j 

Rocha do 

0-_____j 

Sumcnta 

0-- 

Citramala 

0--_.J 

Suwanmata 

0--- 

Prapai 

r-- 6. 

Thosakan 

(Dasaka0\ha/Rava0al 

-D. 

Phiphek 

(Vibhi~a0al 

-6. 

Kumphakan 

(Kumbhakor0ol 

I-- 6. 

Khorn 

(Khora) 

t---- 6. 

Thut 

cou~c:0al 

0 

Spmmonakha 

(Surpanakha) 

6. 

Kuperan 

(Kuberol 

6. 

Tephonasun 

6. 

Aksarathoda 

6. 

Moran 

Fir,. '1. 

'rho Gcne.•logy of Ra'lana in the Thai R.imakien


named Dara (Tara), but Phali takes her for himself. Subsequently, PhaU also seizes 

Thosakan's consort Nang Mantho Thewi and begets a son named Ongkot (Angada) 

before she is restored to Thosakan.l 

Another major episode, which leads to Phali banishing Sukhrip to the forest 

relates to Phaii's battle with a buffalo named Thoraphi. According to the Ramakien,2 

Phra lsuan's gatekeeper Nonthakan (Nanthakala) is reborn on earth as a buffalo 

named Thorapha, who kills all the bull calves as soon as they are born, in order to 

perpetuate his stay in the forest on earth. However, one of the cows manages to run 

away from the herd soon after receiving Thorapha's seed and gives birth to a son 

named Thoraphl secretly in a cave. After Thoraphi is told by his mother why he has 

not seen his father, he wants to kill his father. One day, Thoraphi goes out of the 

cave and matches the size of his hoof-prints with those of his father and finds that they 

are of the same size, and finally Thorapha is gored to death by his own son. Phra 

Isuan curses Thoraphi for having killed his own father and tells him that he will be 

killed by PhaU and then he will be reborn as a demon named Monkonkan, to be killed 

by Rama. Before Phaii goes to fight with Thoraphi in a cave, he tells Sukhrlp that, 

if the colour of the blood flowing out of the cave is bright red, it will signify Phali's 

death. Therefore, when Sukhrip sees bright red blood flowing from the cave, he 

assumes that Phali is dead, and after having closed the exit of the cave, he becomes 

the ruler of Khidkhin. 

However, he is unaware that rain water has diluted the 

buffalo's dark thick blood and has made it appear to be bright red and that Pna!I 

has in fact vanquished Thoraphi. After Phaii comes out of the cave, he banishes 

Sukhrip to the forest, where Sukhrip meets Hanuman, and they both practise 

asceticism.3 

As regards Hanuman's birth, king Khodam's wife Kala Acana curses her 

daughter named Sawaha to perform penance with her mouth open until she brings 

forth a monkey child as punishment for the exposure of her mother's adultery, and 

after the wind-god places Phra lsuan's celestial weapons in the mouth of Sawaha, 

Hanuman of white complexion is born of her mouth. Hanuman at first stays with 

1. RK., I, 146-163. 

2. RK., I, 212-217 and 432-450. 

3. According to the Sanskrit epic ofV'almiki (VR., IV, 11), Valin kills a demon named Dundubhi, 

who assumes the form of a buffalo, and later Valin also fights with Dundubhi's son named 

JV1ayivi in a cavern, which is guarded by Sugriva. After remaining at the mouth of the cavern 

for a whole year, Sugriva sees blood mixed with foam flowing out of the cave, and assuming 

that Valin is dead, he blocks the mouth of the cavern. However. Valin comes out of the 

cavern after killing Mayavi, and banishes Sugriva to the forest, accusing him of treachery.


Phall and Sukhr'lp in accordance with Phra Isuan's command, and after Phali banishes 

Sukhrip to the forest, Hanuman becomes an ally of Sukhrip.I 

As regards the lineage and birth of Rama, who is known as Phra Ram in the 

Ramak/en, his ancestors are said to be of divine origin, which is traced back to Phra 

Naray (Lord Narayaq.a, or Vi~q.u) 

through king Thosorot (Dasaratha), Achaban and 

Anomatan. Phra Ram himself is the reincarnation of Phra Naray, and his brothers 

Phra Lak (Laksana, or Lak~maq.a), Phra Phrot (Bharata), and Phra Satrud (Satrughna) 

are the manifestations of Phra Naray's emblems, namely, the serpent Ananta, the 

discus, and the mace, respectively. 2 Phra Ram's consort Nang S'lda (Sita) is also said 

to be the reincarnation of Phra Naray's consort Lak~mi, but she is born as the daughter 

of Thosakan in Lanka and later becomes the adoptive daughter of king Chonok 

(Janaka) of Mithila.3 The birth of Phra Ram, his brothers, and his consort Nang Sida 

is caused by king Thosorot's queens Kausuriya (Kausalya), Kaiyakes'l (Kaikey'l) and 

Samuthra Thewi (Sumitra), and Thosakan's consort Nang Mantho Thew'l partaking of 

the sacrificial meal of cooked rice, which is consecrated by a sage named Kalaikot. 4 

1. RK, I, 82, 86-89 and 93-95. In the Sanskrit epic of Viilmiki (V R., IV, 66), as well as in the 

Tamil version of Kamba!.! (KR., IV, 2 : 2, 3 and 16) and in the Tamil Uttarak'iif!.tam ( 11: 9), 

Hanumiin is said to be the son of Vayu ('the wind-god') and Aiijana. According to other 

legends such as those to be found in the Tamil version of Kamba~ (KR., I, 5 : 27; KKII., I, 5: 

28) and in the Skanda-Pur'iil]a, Kedarakhanda, Ch. 8), Hanumin is an aspect of Lord Siva. It 

would therefore seem that the birth-story of Hanumiin in the Ramakien is the result of combination 

and modification of different motifs such as Sawiiha, instead of Aiijana, being mentioned 

as the mother of Hanumiin, Sawiiha being mentioned as the sage Gautama's daughter, 

Gautama's wife cursing her daughter because of the betrayal of her adultery, and Lord Siva 

{Phra lsuan) and the wind god playmg a role in Hanumin's birth. 

2. According to the Tamil version of Kamba!_! (KR., I, 5 : 21-22; KKII., I, 5: 22-23), Lord 

Vi~l!u reincarnates himself as Rima, while his emblems, namely the serpant Ananta, the 

discus, and the conch-shell are reborn as Lak~maJ?.a, Bharata, and §atrughna, respectively. 

3. It is noteworthy that, while in the Sanskrit epic of Viilm1ki (V R., I, 66) and the Tamil version 

of Kainba!! (KR., I. 12 : I 6- I 7) Sita is said to have appeared miraculously in the furrow to be 

adopted by king Janaka, and in the Jaina version entitled Vasudevahindi of Sarighadiisa, 

belonging to the fifth century A D., Sita is born as Riivana's daughter, who is later adopted 

by king Janaka, in the Riimakien several elements such as the reincarnation of the goddess 

Lak~m1 as Sita, her birth as the daughter of Riiva¥a, and king Janaka discovering her while 

ploughing the ground, are combined to present an elaborate motif of Sitaii's birth and 

parentage. 

4. The name-form Kalaikot is identical with the Tamil name· form Kalaikko{!u-mu1Ji occurring in · 

the 1 amil version of Kamba!! (KR., I, 5 : 36; KKII., I, 5 : 37; KR., I, 11 : 15) for the Sanskrit 

name J!.syasrnga.


The distinctive qualities of the Riimakien may be also seen in its second part, 

which deals with the main drama of the story covering such major episodes as Phra 

Ram's marriage to Nang Sida, the banishment of Phra Ram, Thosakan's abduction of 

Nang Slda, Phra Ram's meeting with Hanuman and Sukhrlp, the fall of PhaU, 

Hanuman's journey to Lanka, the building of the causeway, the battle in Lanka, the 

fall of Thosakan, Phra Ram's reunion with Nang Slda and their return to Ayuthaya. 

The chief innovations to be found in these episodes of the second part include the 

following: 

(1) Phra Ram and Nang Sida fall in love at first sight before the archery 

contest. I 

(2) Queen Kaiyakesi:'s hunch-back servant named Kucci, who bears a grudge 

against Phra Ram because of his childhood prank of taking shots at her 

hunch-back with bow and arrow, 2 instigates the queen to ask for the 

banishment of Phra Ram by reminding king Thosorot of his earlier 

promise of a boon in appreciation of the queen's help in averting the 

danger of the king's chariot breaking down during the battle against a 

demon named Pathuthan. 

(3) Phra Lak inadvertently kills Sammanakha's son Kumphakat when the 

latter is performing penance in bamboo thickets.3 

(4) Sammanakha assumes the form of a beautiful woman 10 an attempt to 

seduce Phra Ram and Phra Lak before she is punished by them. 4 

(5) When Sadayu (Jatayu) boasts that Nang Slda's ring is more powerful 

than himself, Thosakan snatches the ring from her finger and hurls it at 

Sadayu, wounding him mortally, and Sadayu holds up the ring on his 

beak until he is met by Phra Ram.s 

1. This motif is to be found in the Tamil version of Kamba!! (KR., I, I 0: 35-38) and it is reflective 

of the popular theme of premarital love, depicted in the classical Tamil poetry. 

2. A similar motif is also to be found in the Tamil version of Kamban (KR., II, 2: 41) and in 

the Malay Hikayat Seri R'iima (HSR., SH., 60). 

3. According to Vimala Suri's Jaina version entitled Paumacariya, Lak~ma'Ja inadvertently kills 

Candranakhii's son Sambuka when he practises asceticism in a bamboo thicket. Cf. A. Zieseniss, 

The Rama Saga in Malaysia (Singapore, 1963), pp. 131-132. 

4. A similar motif is to be found in the Tamil version of Kamba!!. (KR., II, 5 : 30-33) and in the 

Malay Hikayat Seri Rama (HSR., SH .. 88). 

5. According to the Malay Hikayat Serl Rama, Siti drops her ring into the beak of Ja~ayu to be 

given to Riima. HSR., RO., 100; A. Zieseniss, op. cit., p. 46.


(6) When Hanuman sees Phra Ram sleeping in the lap of Phra Lak, he 

tries to awaken him by letting leaves fall on him and by snatching Phra 

Lak's bow and mocking at him. Subsequently,- Phra Ram recognises 

Hanuman by his special features such as his earrings, which cannot be 

seen by anyone else except Phra Naray.l 

(7) As Phra Ram cannot differentiate between Phali a~d Sukhrip at the time 

of their duel, be ties a piece of white cloth around the right wrist of 

Sukhrip before he goes to fight with Phali for the second time.2 

(8) When Phra Ram shoots his arrow at PhaU, he catches it in his band and 

asks Phra Ram to stay out of fighting, and when Phra Rim asks for a 

mere drop of blood to rub on his arrow in order to fulfil Phra Isuan's 

decree, PhiU says that, as a noble warrior, he must fulfil every condition 

of Phra Isuan's decree, and then he plunges the arrow into himsel£.3 

(9) Phra Rim enlists the help of another monkey ruler named Mab'i 

Chomphu in addition to the assistance of Sukhrip and Hanumin. 4 

(10) When Hanumin meets Nang Sida in Lanka, she asks for the marks of 

his identity, and Hanuman gives her ring and kerchief to her, and when 

she is not satisfied with these, Hanuman discloses the secret about the 

love at first sight, which is known to Phra Rim and herself only.s 

(11) After Hanumin is caught by Thosakan's son Inthorochit, be is set ablaze 

by Thosakan's diamond spear, and after reducing Lanka to ashes, 

Hanumin extinguishes the fire on his tail by sticking the tip of his tail 

into his mouth and at the same time pinching his nose. 

1. In the Malay Hikayat Seri Rama (HSR., RO., 107-109), when Rima is sleeping in the lap of 

Lak~maJ?a, Hanumiin snatches the three arrows of Riima from Lak~maJ?a and disappears into 

the foliage of a tamarind tree, and later Rima recognises Hanumiin as his son by his earrings. 

2. According to the Tamil version of Kamba!! (KR., IV, 7: 52; KKII., IV, 7: 61), on Rima's 

suggestion, Sugriva himself ties a wild creeper plant with flowers around his neck. In the 

Malay Hikayat Seri Rama (HSR., RO., 114-115) Rima winds a root around Sugriva's body. 

3. In the Malay Hikayat Seii Rama (HSR .• RO., 115-117; SH, 108-109), when Riima asks for 

the return of the arrow, Valin replies that the arrow of Lord Vi~~u must reach its target, and 

then as he flings the arrow towards the ground, it rises into the air, and swerving back, it 

pierces Vilin to death. 

4. A similar episode is to be found in the Malay Hikaynt Slfri Rama (HSR., RO., 120-130), but 

not in the Sanskrit epic of Viilmiki, nor in the Tamil version of Kamba!!. It may be also 

noted that the name of the monkey ruler, whose help is enlisted by Rima, is given as Samburana 

in HSR. 

5. In the Tamil version of Kamba!! (KR., IV, 13: 67; KKJ/., IV, 12: 67) as well as in the 

R'iimakien (RK., II, 102-103), before Hanumin's departure to Latikii, Riima relates to him the 

secret of the love at first sight, known only to Rima and Siti, so that Hanumin may establish 

his identity by telling Siti of the incident.

THE RaMA STORY IN THE THAI CULTURAL TRADITION 65 

(12) At the time of building the causeway, a quarrel breaks out between 

Hanuman and Maha Chomphii's adoptive son Nilaphat, and Phra Ram 

orders Nilaphat to return to Khidkhin to take over the command of the 

city. 

(13) Thosakan asks his fish daughter Suphanna-Maccha to destroy the 

causeway, I but Hanuman wins over her friendship by making love to her, 

and Suphanna-Maccha later gives birth to a son named Macchanu who 

resembles Hanuman.2 

(14) Thosakan's brother Phiphek (Vibhi~al).a) defects to Phra Ram after the 

monkey army has crossed over to Lanka. 

(15) At the command of Thosakan, Phiph7k's daughter named Beiiyakay 

assumes the form of Nang Sida and floats up the nver near Phra Ram's 

camp as though she is dead in an attempt to make Phra Ram give up his 

siege of Lanka, but Hanuman exposes her trickery. After Phra Ram 

forgives her, she is taken to Thosakan's palace, where Hanuman makes 

love to her, and subsequently she gives birth to Hanuman's son named 

Asuraphad. 

(16) Phra Ram's emissary Ongkot goes to Thosakan's palace, where he rolls 

up his tail and sits on it, so as to be on the same level as Thosakan.3 

(17) At the comand of Thosakan, the king of the Underworld Maiyarab 

abducts Phra Ram with the intention of killing him, but Hanumiin rescues 

Phra Ram and kills Maiyarab. 4 

1. In the Malay Hikayat Seri Riima (HSR., RO .. 141-143; SH., 158-159), RivaJ]a's son Gangga 

Mahasura instructs the fish in the sea to destroy the causeway, and Hanuman paralyses the 

fish by whipping the water with his tail. 

2. According to the Malay Hikayat Seri Riima (HSR., SH., 190-191), at the time of Hanuman's 

flight to Lanka across the sea, his sperm falls into the sea, and a fish swallows it and later 

gives birth to a son named Hanumiin Tuganggah, who is brought up by Raval!-a's son Gati.gga 

Mahasura. 

3. In the Bengali version entitled Angader Raiviira, composed by Kavicandra in the eighteenth 

century A.D., Angada elongates his tail, rolls it up and sits on it, so as to be on an equal level 

wita Rava~a. D. sen, The Bengali Ramaya~J.as (Calcutla, 1920), pp. 218-219. 

4. According to the B~ngali version entitled Mahi Ravaner Pala, composed by Krttivasa in the 

fifteenth century A.D., Ravat;ta's son Mahi Riival]a abducts Rima and Lak~max:a with the 

intention of sacrificing them to the goddess Kiili but Hanuman rescues them after slaying Mahi 

Riivax:a. In the Malay Hikayat Seri Rama (HSR., SH., 184-194), Rival?-a's son Patala 

Mahii.riiyan abducts Rima, but Hanuman rescues Rima, and Patala Maharayan is killed by 

Rima during the battle on the following day.


(18) Kumphakan's magic spear known asMokha Sakticauses Phra Lak to faint, 

and Hanuman fetches the medicinal herbs to revive Phra Lak back to life. 

(19) Kumphakan at the point of his death sees Phra Ram with the attributes 

of Phra Naray and repents for not having heeded Phiphek's advice. 

(20) Before Inthrochit is killed by Phra Ram, Angada brings a diamond bowl 

from heaven to catch Inthrochit's head to avert conflagration of fire on 

earth. 

(21) lyltilaphalam (Miilabala) is said to be the name of the deputy king of 

Phangtan.l 

(22) After Phra Lak is struck with Thosakan's Kabilaphat spear, Hanuman 

brings the medicinal herbs, as well as the dung of the sacred bull Usuparat, 

a mortar belonging to Kala Nakha of the Underworld, and a pestle kept 

by Thosakan under his pillow.2 

(23) Hanuman ties up Thosakan's hair with that of his wife, and the knot is 

untied only after Thosakan's wife strikes on his head three times.3 

(24) Thosakan's consort Nang Mantho Tbewi prepares an elixir of life in 

order to revive all the dead demons, and Hanuman assumes the form of 

Thosakan and tells her to stop producing the elixir. 

(25) Hanuman and Ongkot (Angada) pretend to defect to Thosakan and take 

possession of the receptacle containing his soul from his teacher Khobutacan. 

(26) Hanuman crushes the receptacle containing Thosakan's soul when Phra 

Ram's arrow strikes Thosakan's chest, thus causing him to breathe his 

last. 

(27) Phra Ram himself ignites the logs of wood with his arrow for Nang Sida's 

fire-ordeal. 4 

1. In the Sanskrit epic of Viilmiki (V R., VI, 94) and in the Tamil version of Kamba!! (KR., VI, 

30: 2-3), the term Mulabala (Miilapalam in KR) refers to the reserve troops of Riiva:J,la. It 

may be also noted that the name-form Mi.taphalam in the Ramakien is identical with the Tamil 

name-form M'iilapa/am. 

2. In the Malay Hikayat Seri Rama (HSR., SH., 241-245), Hanuman fetches the medicinal herbs 

as well as the stone from Rava'?a's bed-chamber to grind the herbs. 

3. Acceding to the Malay Hikayat Seri Rama (HSR., SH .• 245), Haaumiin ties up Riival}a's hair 

with that of his wife, and it is untied only after his wife inflicts a blow on his head. 

4. In the Sanskrit epic of Viilmiki (V R., VI, I 18) and in the Tamil version of Kamba!! (KR., VI, 

37 : 78-79), Lak~ma:J,la erects the pyre, and according to the Malay Hikayat Seri Riima (HSR., 

SH., 254-255), Hanumiin erects the pyre for Sitii's fire-ordeal.


(28) On Phiphek's suggestion, Phra Ram destroys the causeway with his 

Phralayawat arrow after he and his companions return to the mainland 

from Lanka. I 

(29) Phra Ram distributes the various parts of his kingdom to his brothers and 

the monkey warriors. 

(30) Phra Ram creates a new city known as Nophburi for Hanuman. 

As regards the innovations introduced in the third part of the Ramakien, 

the following episodes may be mentioned as examples: 

(1) Thosakan's son Phaina Suriyawong (Thosaphin), born of Nang Mantho 

Thewi after Thosakan's death, rebels against Phiphek and imprisons him, 

but he is later vanquished by Phra Phrot. 

(2) Nang Sida draws a picture of Thosakan on a slate at the request of a 

demoness named Adun, who assumes the form of a beautiful maid,2 and 

Phra Ram orders Phra Lak to take Nang Sida to the forest and kill her. 

Phra Lak, however, leaves her in the forest and brings back the heart of 

a doe and shows it to Phra Ram as that of Nang Sida. 

(3) Nang Sida finds refuge with a sage named Wachamarik in the forest. 

(4) After Nang Sida gives birth to a son named Phra Monkut, the sage 

Wachamarik creates another child named Phra Loph by drawing a picture 

of Phra Monkut on a magic slate and placing it in the sacred fire. 3 

(5) As Nang Sida refuses to return to Ayuthaya, Phra Ram resorts to the 

strategem of sending Hanuman to convey the false news of his death to 

her. 

(6) Nang Sida is annoyed at being a victim of Phra Ram's trick and she 

disappears into the Underworld. 

1. According to the Skanda-Purana, Rima breaks the causeway into three parts in order to prevent 

men from entering Lanka. V. Raghavan, The Greater Riimayal}a (Varanasi, 1973, p. 43. 

2. According to the Bengali version of Candrd:vati and the Malay Hikayat Siiri Rama (HSR., SH., 

268-270), Sita draws the picture of Rii.val}a on a fan at the request of Kaiki::yi's daughter 

Kukuii (in the Bengali version) and Balyli.rlari's daughter Kikewi Dewi (in the Malay version). 

Cf. D. Sen, The Bengali Ramaya'!as (Calcutta, 1920), pp. 196-200; A Zieseniss, The Rama 

Saga in Malaysia (Singapore 1963), p. 97. 

3. Somadeva's Kathasaritsagara (IX, tarairga Sl, verses 86-93) refers to Rima's son Kusa being 

created by Yalmiki from the kusa grass Poa cynosuroides after Sitii has already given birth to 

Lava. In the Malay Hikayat S'eri Rama (HSR., SH., 271-272) Sitii's adoptive father 

Maharisi Kali creates a child named Gusi from a bundle of grass after Sitii has given birth to 

a son named Tablawi.


(7) Phra Ram vanquishes demons during his year-long self-imposed exile. 

(8) Phra Isuan brings together Phra Ram and Nang Sida again. 

(9) Phra Ram's son Phra Motikut and Phra Loph liberate the kingdom of 

Kaiyaket from the demon Khontanurat.l 

It would seem evident from the above examples of various episodes and motifs 

found in the three parts of the Romakien that, though several of them are somewhat 

akin to certain elements of other versions of the Riima story such as the Tamil version 

of Kamba~, the Jaina version, the Bengali versions, and the Malay Hikayar Seri Rama, 

nevertheless, there is considerable variation to be found in the final treatment of the 

story and its various episodes. In other words, the stories of Rama, transmitted to the 

Thai people through the shadow-play as well as literary and oral sources, have not only 

been extended, but also transformed into a distinct work of literature. 

8. CHARACTERISATION IN THE RAMAKIEN 

The Ramakien portrays both the admirable and the undesirable character-traits 

to be found in the principal dramatis personae ofthe story. The chief character Phra 

Ram is said to be the reincarnation of Phra Naray (Lord NarayaJ.?.a, or Vi~J.?.u), and as 

a ruler, who is endowed with supernatural powers, bravery, righteousness, munificence 

and compassion, Phra Ram is a model of kings.2 At the same time, Phra Ram is also 

shown to be a human being, who, in a fit of great anger on seeing the picture of 

Thosakan, drawn by Nang Sida, orders her to be put to death, but as he later repents 

for his hasty action, he merits the grace of Phra lsuan, who plays a commanding role 

in all critical situations. Phra Ram's consort Nang Sida is depicted as the reincarnation 

of Phra Naray's consort Lak~ml. She is beautiful in body and soul. Her faithful 

love for Phra Ram is impurturbable. All attempts made by Thosakan to seduce her 

cannot shake her firmness. Ret steadfast character makes her an example for all 

women. However, Nang Sida is also shown to be a gullible person, who goes to the 

1. A South Indian folk tradition refers to Rama's sons Kusa and Lava conquering demons. Cf. 

B. Ziegebalg, Genea/ogie der Malabarischen Goiter (Madras, I 867), p. 133. 

2. It may be noted in this connection that several of the Thai kings are known to have adopted 

the name Rima as their royal title. For example, the Sukhothai ruler, who is also known to 

be the author of the earliest known Thai epigraphical document ( 1292 A.D.) was named Rima 

Khamhaeng ('Rima the Strong'). The first monarch of the Ayuthayi kingdom (1350 A.D.) 

was known as Riimadhibodi (Ramiidhipati). The rulers of the Cakri dynasty of the present 

Bangkok period have also been given the title Riima : Phra Phuttha Yotfa, King Riima I 

(1782-1809). Phra Phutthaloetla, or King Rama II (1809 1824), Phra NangKlaw, or King 

Rii.ma III (1824-1851), King Monkut, or Rii.ma IV (1851-1868), King Chulalongkon, or Riima 

V (1868-1910), King Wachirawut, or Rima VI (1910-1925).


extent of casting aspersions on the character of Phra Lak, when he tries to assure her 

that Phra Ram is in no danger at the time of his pursuit of the goldeen deer. Phra 

Lak is the loyal brother of the king, and he is ever ready to fulfil any wish of Phra 

Ram and to accept and execute his orders. Hanuman is the foremost soldier of the 

king. His capability, devotion and sense of justice make him the ideal subordinate. 

Hanuman is, indeed, the favourite character of the Thai people, who adore him as a 

brave, shrewd, and happy warrior. He is the embodiment of all that expresses the 

freer and the unrestricted aspects of life. He is a great admirer of beautiful women, 

and he is neither celibate nor saintly as the Hanuman of the Hindu versions of the 

Rama story. Phali: is a great hero and a capable leader, but he ruins himself through 

hybrid ambitions. Phiphek is an astrologer, and his advice is constantly sought by 

Phra Ram in all critical situations. Thosakan is depicted as a complex character with 

human virtues as well as frailties. He is shown to be a great character, noted for his 

strength, and resourcefulness, and his action in abducting Nang Sida is shrouded in the 

noble motive of love, for which he is prepared to sacrifice his life. His fall is 

inevitable, but it evokes sadness and sympathy. Thus, the major characters of the 

Ramakien represent human life in its different facets, and the Thai people regard them 

as examples of the human society, and this is the reason for the continuing popularity 

of the Rama legend in the Thai society.

70 

S. Singaravelu 

ABBREVIATIONS 

HSR 

HSR.,RO. 

HSR.,SH. 

IR (OU). 

JSS 

KKII 

KR 

RK 

VR 

Hikayat Seri Rama. 

Geschiedenis van Sri Rama, beroemd lndische Heroisch Dichtstuk, 

oorspronkelijk van Valmic en naar eene Maleische vertaling daarvan 

in het Maleisch met Arabisch karakter, mitsgaders met eene Voorrede 

en plaat uitgegeven, door en voor rekening van P.P. Roorda 

van Eysinga. Amsterdam : Bij. L. van Bakkenes, 1843. 

"Hikayat Seri Rama, edited by W.O. Shellabear," Journal of the 

Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, No. 71 (December, 

1915), pp. 1-285. 

lramaya;zam. O{!akiittar iyarriya uttarakal](am Annamalaingar : 

Annamalai University, 1977. 

Journal of the Siam Society, Bangkok. 

Kaviccakaravartti Kambar iya!:[iya IramayalJam, edited by R.P. 

Cetuppq~ai and others. Annamalainagar: Annamalai University, 

1957-1970. 

Kambaramayanam, edited with the commentary by V.M. KopalakirushJ:?.amacariyar. 

Madras, 1959. 

Ramakien Phrarachaniphon ratchakan Thi I. 4 Vols. Bangkok: 

Chabap Khruusapha, 195L 

The Valmiki-Ramayana, critically edited for the first time by G.H. 

Bhatt and others. 7 Volumes. Baroda : Oriental Institute, M.S. 

University of Baroda, 1960-1971.

THE TITTIRA-JATAKA AND THE EXTENDED MAHAVA:ryiSA 

OSKAR VON HINUBER * 

In contrast to the Mahavaipsa (Mhv), which is familiar to scholars as an 

important source on the history of Buddhism and of Ceylon, the extended version 

(EMhv) has remained relatively little known. The critical and, as far as my knowledge 

goes, only edition of this text, which is also called sometimes Cambodian Mahavarp.sa 

because all extant manuscripts are written either in Cambodian script or copied from 

such manuscripts, has been prepared by the late G.P. Malalasekera as volume III of 

the Aluvihara Series printed in Colombo 1937. In his long introduction, which does 

not only give a full concordance between the two Mahavaxpsas, but which also contains 

an important discussion on the language, the sources, and the probable date and place 

of origin of this text, Mallalasekera suggests with commendable caution "In fact, there 

is no proof that the author of EM., •.. , was a monk, or that he was a native of Ceylon, 

though it is more than probable that he was both", and "I would, therefore, 

provisionally assign EM. to the 9th or lOth century. If, however, as it is not 

impossible, the work was written outside Ceylon, say in Siam, these calculations 

become worthless" (both on p. LII). 

Obviously, there are three possible ways to approach the solution of the 

problem of origin and date of EMhv: First, there is the colophon, which, apart from 

giving the name of the author as Moggallina does not contain much useful information. 

Secondly, an investigation into the language of the text may well lead to more concrete 

results. As, however, our knowledge of post-canonical Pili, and much more so of 

post-a{!hakatha and South East Asian Pili is hardly developed at all, the necessary 

tools are lacking to ascertain the exact linguistic position of the EMhv. Lastly, there 

are the sources of this text. The colophon states that the author used the Mahava1psa, 

the Buddhavarttsa, the Thiipavar;nsa and theLinattha, which, according to Malalasekera 

(p. XL) refers to the Mahava1psapka. Further, as Malalasekera points out, the 

author used in addition to the texts mentioned by himself also the Mahavagga of the 

Vinayapitaka and its commentary, the Mahabodhisvarpsa, and perhaps also the 

Buddhavarpsa and Jitaka commentaries. As all these texts are well known and widely 

spread in all countries, where Theravida Buddhism flourishes, they do not seem to 

be very helpful when trying to solve any of the three aspects of the problem: the author, 

his time and his country. 

* Prof. Dr. Oskar von Hiniiber, Orientalisches Seminar-lndologie, Universitiit, Freiburg, West 

Germany. 

71

72 Oskar von HinUber 

In spite of this, it is possible to draw certain conclusions from the versified 

version of the Tittira-Jataka (no. 319) found in the EMhv V 595-625. Although 

Malalasekera mentions this parallel to the Jataka, he does not elaborate on, or draw 

conclusions from this fact. Now it is well known, and it has been pointed out by 

V. Fausbcf>ll about a century ago in his introduction to the edition of the Jataka {Ja) vol. 

IV (1887) and vol. VI (1896), that there are quite considerable discrepancies between 

the Sinhalese and the Burmese manuscripts of the Jataka, so much so that Fausbcpll 

was ready to consider them as two separate redactions. Therefore it may be useful to 

have a closer look at the Tittira-Jitaka comparing Fausbct>ll's ed1tion Ja III 64.1-66.15 

with the relevant verses of EMhv. As the latter text is not readily available everywhere, 

it may be useful to print it here in full: 

595 ,Pa~icca kammatp. natthl" ti, kiliHhatp cetanaqt vina," 

thero bodhesi rijanatp vatvi Tittirajatakaf?'l : 

596 Atlte Brahmadattamhi kirente rijatatp kira 

samiddhe nagare ramme pure Bira~asivhaye 

597 dijakulamhi ekasmiq1 bodhisatto nibbattiya 

vayappatto sabbasippatp ugga~hitvina vissuto 

598 Takkasilaya nikkhamma pabbajji isipabbajatp. 

Himavantappadesamhi paficabhifi.iiisu piragii 

599 patva a!!ha samipattiyo ki!anto jhinakl!itaJ:!l 

ramaf!lye vanasa~4e vasanto ekako bhave. 

600 Paccantagimaiiiiataratp gacchamano tadantare 

lo~ambilasevanatthaq1 nari disva pasldiya 

601 pavane aiiiiatarasmim kiiretvi pa~~asalakal}l 

paccayeh' upaHhahitva sakkaccaqt taqt vasipayul}l. 

602 Tasmif!1 game tadi eko saku~iko viga~hiya 

ekarp dlpakatittiral!l sikkhapetviina paiijare 

603 pakkhipitva sinehena niccan ca pa~ijaggati. 

So taq1 araiiiian;t netvi tittire igatigate 

604 tassa saddena ga~hitva netvana vikki~iti te. 

,Mamatp nissaya tittiri nassanti bahu iiataka 

605 ki111 mayarp tarp papan" ti nirisaddo ahosi so. 

Nissaddabhavatp iiatva so paharitvana tittiraqt. 

606 velupesika slsamhi abhi~hatp luddako tato 

dukkhituraya saddatp karoti tittiro lahum. 

607 Evaq1 saku~iko lobharp nissaya tittire bahii 

ga~hitva digham addhanal}l kappesi jivit' attano.

THE TITTIRA JATAKA AND THE EXTENDED MAHAVAJ.\'ISA 

73 

608 Dukkhaturo so tittiro iti eva~ vicintayi : 

,'Aho ime marantii' ti cetana me na vijjati 

609 pa!icca kamma~ pan' idarp. abhil]hatp mama phussati, 

akaronte mayi saddarp. ete pi nagamu~" iti. 

610 ,Karonte yeva gacchanti, ayaii ca agatagate 

iiatake me gahetvana papeti jivitakkhayarp.. 

611 Bttha kin nu ida111 papa~ may harp. atth' eva natthi ?" ti. 

Tato paghaya, ,ko nu kho kankharp. chindeyya maqt,'' iti 

pa~gitarp. so tathariiparp. voloketvana vicari. 

612 Ath' ekadivasaxp so te gahetva tittire bahii 

puretva pacchiyaxp., ,panirp. pivissaml" ti cintayi. 

613 Bodhisattassa assamarp. gantva tarp. paiijararp. tato 

thapetva santike tassa pivitva paniy' icchitarp. 

614 valukatale nipanno niddarp. okkami tavade. 

Niddokkantassa bhaval':!l so iiatvana tittiro tato, 

615 ,kankham idarp. tapasam eva pucchissami,'' ti cintayi, 

,Jananto me sacayal':!l so ajj' ev' ima~ kathessati." 

616 Nisinno paiijare gatha!Jl pucchanto patham aha so: 

,susukam vata jivami, labhami c'eva bhuiijituqt 

617 paripanthe ca tiHhiimi ka su, bhante, gati mama?" 

Tassa paiihal':!l vissajjento dutiyarp. gatham aha so : 

618 ,Mano te nappa~amati, pakkhi, papassa kammuna, 

apaparp. tassa bhadrassa, na paparp. upalippati." 

619 Sutvana vacanarp. tassa tatiyarp. gatham aha so: 

,,'Natako no nisinno', ti bahu agacchate jano, 

620 paticca kammaqt phusati tasmin;t me sankate mano." 

Sutva so bodhisatto tarp. catutthagatham aha so : 

621 ,Na paticca kammal':!l phusati, mano te nappadussati 

appossukkassa bhadrassa na paparp. upalippati." 

622 Bvatp so tittiraqt tattha saiiiiapesi anekadha, 

nissaya bodhisattarp. kho nikkukkucco ahosi so. 

623 Saku~iko pabuddho so bodhisattarp. 'bhivandiya 

paiijaraxp tattha-m-adaya sakagharan;t apakkami. 

624 Dhammadesan' imarp. sattha aharitvana jataka:rp 

samodhanesi sabbatp tarp., , tittiro Rahulo ahu. 

625 Kankharp. vinodayanto so aharp. eva buddho ahu." 

Tatp dhammadesanarp. sutva raja attamano tato.

74 Oskar von Hini.iber 

While the first verse (EMhv 595) is identical with Mhv V 264, the versified 

.rataka closely follows the text in the Jataka-A !thava:t?J?ana. Here, we can concentrate 

on thoes passages, where the wording in the Jataka itself is different in the Sinhalese 

and in the Burmese manuscripts. EMhv (598 foil.) agrees with paiica abhiiinayo ca 

a({ha (Bd atha, Bi atta) samapattiyo (Ja Ill 64, 13) of the Burmese manuscripts, 

whereas the numerals are not found in the Sinhalese tradition. The situation is the 

same in other passages, too: 

EMhv (601) vasapayu11J (so read) :Bid vasiipeSUJ?'l: vaseSUJ!I (Ja III 64,17) 

(602) dipakarillirarr B=id : dipatittirarrz (Ja Ill 64,18) 

(604) gal]hitva ... vikkilJati: Bid gaheltva vikiT)itva : different wording in the 

Sinhalese manuscripts (Ja Ill 64, 20) 

(611) ko nu kho kankharrz chindeyya 'maf!i (sic, 'maf!l=imarrz), where Fausbll 

(Ja III 65,3) follows the obviously wrong Sinhalese reading kamma'l[l for 

kankham found in Bid. 

(612) bah'u : Bid bahu: bahuke (Ja III 65,3) 

(617) vissajjento = Bi: vissajjanto (Ja Ill 65,16) 

(621) na pa{iccakamma'l[l phusati =Bid :paticcakamma'l[l na phusati (Ja III 

66,6*) 

When trying to countercheck this evidence, there are indeed a few instadces, 

where EMhv is closer to the Sinhalese than to, the Burmese tranition : 

(614) niddokkantassa bhavarrz: niddarrz okkantabhiiva1[1, but Bid niddarrz 

okkamanabhavaf!l (Ja Ill 65,6) 

The reading okkanta, however, has been adopted also in the Burmese 

Cha~~hasaxpgayana edition published on the occasion of the 2500 th anniversary of the 

NirviJ?a, although it is not clear, whether the edition by Fausbcjlll or a genuine Burmese 

edition has been followed. 

In some respects the variants found in the gathas of this Jataka are more 

important. They seem to point to a certain independence of the canonical Jataka 

tradition known to the author of EMhv. Two such variants (617) ka su and (619) 

agacchante (so read for agacchante in the printed edition) follow the Sinhalese 

tradition (Ja II 65, 10*; 24*) against Bid ka nu and the unmetrical agacchanti. Thrice, 

however, the gathas preserved in EMhv even furnish altogether new readings: (618) 

mano te na ppo1Jamatit is metrically correct against Bid mano ce te and the evidently 

corrupt Ck mano mane nnd C5 mano cane (Ja III 65, 17*); (621) mano te is not shared 

by the rest of the tradition, which has mano ce (Ja 111 66,6*) firmly rooted in the text 

tradition as proved by the quotation in the Saddaniti manoce na ppadussati, Sadd 101, 

15 •. As ce instead of te is postulated by the context, this reading certainly is a mistake 

in the archetype of the EMhv.

THE TITTIRA-JATAKA AND THE EXTENDED MAHAVAf!tSA 75 

The most interesting variant, however, is (618) apapaf!Z tassa against 

avyava!assa (Ja III 65, 18*) with the Burmese variants Bi ajhavatassa and Bd abyavatassa. 

The text as printed in EMhv evidently needs correction in the light of the Jataka: 

apaparratssa seems to go back to a misunderstood apapatassa, which again may be a 

genuine variant of a-v (y) avata. Although -t- instead of -!- seems to bring EMhv 

nearer to the Burmese Jataka tradition, it should be kept in mind that avyaprta might 

well develop a doublet showing -t-, cf. krta>ka{a!kata. Therefore -pata for -vara- may, 

but need not necessarily be, a South East Asian reading confusing dentals and cerebrals. 

The development of v- pinto p-p (cf. V. Trenckner, Notes on the Milindapaiiha 1879= 

JPTS 1908. 113; Critical Pali Dictionary s.v. avyava(a, and Helmer Smith, Saddaniti 

V. 1966. Index p. 1516 "p") in EMhv against v- v again underlines a position of 

EMhv aloof to some extent at least from both Jataka traditions. 

In those passages of EMhv corresponding to the prose of the Jataka, on the 

other hand, there are only two instances, where there might have been a wording in 

the text used by the author of EMhv different from the Burmese and the Sinhalese 

traditions: (601) pavane against araiiiie (Ja Ill 64, 16) and (616) nisinno againstnipanno 

(Ja Ill 65,7). For neither change in wording is vindicated by the metre. 

To sum up: On the whole it is quite evident that the text of the Tittira-Jataka 

as versified in EMhv is based on a version very near or even more or less identical with 

the Burmese tradition found in the manuscripts used by Fausbcf>ll. This rules out at once 

that the EMhv has been written in Ceylon. It does not, however, necessarily point to 

any South East Asian country as its place of origin. For the differences from the Burmese 

and the Sinhalese Jiitaka traditions may be interpreted in two ways. Either these 

passages represent simply an older stage of the development of the Burmese manuscript 

tradition of the Jataka, or they may reflect, however faintly, a third, South Indian 

text of the Jataka. If the date of EMhv inferred by Malalasekera is only approximately 

correct, the latter might even be the more probable conclusion. This again would 

be one of the rather few and therefore all the more precious survivals of the South 

Indian Pali tradition, which with some probability may be traced also in Aggavarp.sa's 

Saddaniti, as I have tried to show elsewhere (Notes on the Pii.li tradition in Burma, to 

be published by the Academy of Sciences in Gottingen)l). 

1. The printed edition of EMhv has to be corrected : (600) gacchamano read -na'!'; (602) sakuf!ika 

read sa- always; (610) yeva gacchanti read yevagacchanti; (615) kankhaf!! idaf!! read kankhaf!! 

imaf!!. - (605) nirasaddo instead of nissaddo (Ja III 64, 22) is not clear to me.

VISUAL EXPRESSIONS OF TANTRIC BUDDHISM* 

By 

NANDANA CHUTIWONGS* 

The term 'Tantric Buddhism' is usually applied to a type of Buddhism in which 

the practice of T antra plays a dominant role. 

'Tantra', in its widest connotation, signifies expanded literature, Buddhist and 

Hindu, dealing elaborately with any type of study either in a theoretical or in a 

practical manner. In a limited usage, Tantra signifies a body of esoteric literature 

containing both religious and practical instructions. The origin of Tantra is neither 

Buddhist nor Hindu. It is just Indian. Tantra expounds religious methods and 

practices which were current in India from times immemorial. It includes the practice 

of yoga (physical and spiritual excercises), recitation of hymns and .formulae, rites, 

rituals, medicine, astrology, magic etc. The aim is either to gain various kinds of 

siddhi (supernatural power) or to attain moks,a (spiritual release). Tantra, as a rule, 

does not deal with philosophy, but only describes the practical method by which to 

achieve one's goal, whatever that may be. 

Tantric systems aiming at spiritual salvation lay stress on two fundamental 

beliefs, the origins of which date back to pre-Buddhist times: 

1). The belief that Truth resides within the body of man, and that therefore 

the human body is the best medium through which this Truth can be realized. This 

belief is best expressed in the practice of yoga which aims to achieve the mystical union 

between Spirit and Matter, and the transmutation of the material into the spiritual, 

and the mundane into the divine. The practice of yoga brings man back to his origin. 

It reunites him with the Absolute. The spiritual and the material worlds are seen as 

only reflections of one another. We might think of them as the sky and its reflection 

in clear water. Above, is the spiritual world, the world of Salvation. Below, lies the 

material world of man, the world of saf!JSara (transmigration), of birth and death, of 

disintegration and of sorrow. Man, in our world, is but a reflection of the Absolute 

who resides in the upper plane. Through the practice of yoga, man may rise to meet 

his divine counterpart and origin, merge himself into the Absolute and transform his 

own world of transmigration into salvation, and his suffering into bliss. 

* Institute of South Asian Archaeology, University of Amsterdam 

* lecture delivered at the Siam Society, Bangkok, on August 22nd, 1978. 

76

VISUAL EXPRESSIONS OF TANTRIC BUDDHISM 77 

2) The concept of duality in non-duality or the concept of Two in One. There 

are two contrasting aspects in the fundamental nature of Reality: the static and the 

dynamic, the passive and the active, the negative and the positive. The realization of 

the Oneness of all pairs of opposites means final release or salvation, the ultimate goal 

of the practitioner. 

Buddhism in its later phases of development absorbed much of Tantric theory 

and practice. In the Mahayana system, which represents the 'un-orthodox' form of 

Buddhism, theological and philosophical speculations continually increased. Gradually 

but steadily Mahayana Buddhism in India became affected by mysticism and other 

ancient Indian beliefs. As early as in the 4th-5th century A.D. certain Mahayana 

sects had already adopted the methods of yoga. And after Buddhism had once 

admitted certain elements of these ancient practices, all the remaining traditional 

Indian beliefs in magic crept in. Eventually, out of this mixture of Buddhist traditions 

and Tantric practices, which included all kinds of indigenous Indian elements such as 

esoteric yoga, mystic formulae, hymns, rituals, magic, sorcery and astrology, emerged 

Tantric Buddhism. 

Mahayana Buddhism developed along two main trends: those of the Paramitayana 

(the Way of Perfection) and the Vajrayana or Tantrayiina (the Way of the 

Thunderbolt or the Tantric Way). The latter is popularly known as Tantric Buddhism. 

The Paramitayana lays stress on paramita (perfection) as being the very 

quality which will raise a Bodhisattva (a person seeking Enlightenment) to the stage 

of a Buddha. The Paramita Path requires absolute altruism, patience, perfection of 

ethics, moral, concentration and intelligence. In other words, it demands perfection 

in every respect. 

The Vajrayana (or Tantrayana or Tantric Buddhism) expounds a short-cut 

path towards Buddhahood: a quick and effective method with the aid of esoteric 

practices. This method is only instructed in secret because: 

l) it deals with the process of development which occurs in the innermost 

depth of a man's being, a process so delicate and personal that it has to be carefully 

guarded against all that might interfere with it. 

2) it is a path open only to superior individuals who have already gone through 

the 'common' paths, i.e. those of the Hinayana and Paramitayana. By having 

undergone these 'lower' stages of studying the scriptures and of self-purification, they 

have built a solid foundation of Buddhist learning. Only on this foundation can the 

process of Tantra be added. A person without such a background is unsuitable to 

receive Tantric instruction, because he is unable to understand its significance. By his

78 Nandana Chutiwongs 

lack of understanding he will devalue the instruction down to his own level or try to 

change it into something it can never be. 

outcome. 

In such a case, disaster would be the only 

The Tiintrio Way, therefore, is chiefly and basically meant for initiates. Its 

methods are instructed in secret by teachers to selected pupils. Non-initiates or persons 

who have not taken the Way seriously both with heart and soul, remain 'outsiders'. 

We all are outsiders. What is visible and comprehensible to us are mostly things 

belonging to the most peripheral borders of the Tantric world. All that is essential 

cannot be seen. 

Tantric Buddhism adheres to the two fundamental ideas of Tantra which have 

been described earlier, i.e. the belief in the transmutation of that which is imperfect 

into that which is perfect, and the concept of the Oneness or Sameness of all pairs of 

opposites. In addition to this, Tantric Buddhism also maintains much of the traditional 

Buddhist concepts though it has its own way of interpreting and expressing them. 

The most important philosophical idea in Tantric Buddhism is the concept of 

Siinyatii-an outstandingly important subject in Buddhist philosophy. Each Buddhist 

system has its own definition and interpretation of Siinyata, the literal meaning of 

which is Void or Emptiness. Orthodox Buddhists regard it as being the very nature 

of the universe and of all its phenomena. The Mahayii.nists describes it as the 

Absolute Truth, the One and Only Reality in the entire universe. Tantric Buddhism 

maintains the general view of the Mahayana system and elaborates upon it. Siinyata 

in Tantric Buddhism is the Origin of all things. All forms, visible and invisible, 

mundane and divine, are but man~festations 

of this Siinyatli and their true nature is 

thus nothing but Sunyata. Siinyata is comparable to a mirror which reflects all forms 

projected upon it by the consciousness of each individual but contains no form in itself. 

This concept, therefore, permitted an unlimited expansion of the Taotric pantheon 

which eventually came to include deities of all descriptions. Each of them is believed 

to be an aspect of the Ultimate One. 

Equally important is the concept of Bodhicitta, meaning literally: a mind 

which is bent on Enlightenment. Un-orthodox Buddhists believe that every being in 

the world is a potential Buddha, but that he will never be able to proceed towards 

Buddhahood before he actually produces the Bodhicitta within himself. This 

Bodhicitta, therefore, is equivalent to a vow, a resolution to attain Buddhahood. 

Upon becoming conscious of this Bodhicitta within himself, a Buddha-to-be will 

eventuaUy attain Buddhahood by progressing through the various stages of perfection


like a man mounting stairs reaches the top. But since he does not takes this vow for 

himself but for the sake of all beings in the universe he possesses the two sublime 

qualities of Wisdom and Compassion. In Tantric Buddhist philosophy, where the 

concept of Two in One predominates, Bodhicitta represents the union of these two 

qualities which are essential for the attainment of Buddhahood. In a mind bent on 

Enlightenment, there must be Wisdom as well as Compassion. 

There must be a 

passive Realization of the Void as well as active Manifestations for the benefit of all 

beings. The metaphysical union of these two principles may be brought about through 

the process of yoga. Remaining alone by itself the Bodhicitta is inactive, dull and 

slumbering, but through the practice of yoga the energies of Wisdom and Compassion 

flow into it, and awaken it to realize its sublime nature. 

In Tantric Buddhism there is also a strong belief in the power of chanting and 

repeating mystical hymns, formulae and syllables. Such a belief, in fact, was already 

current in India since the very beginning of her history, and it is also present among 

the so-called orthodox Buddhists. Nevertheless, these recitations of mantras or words, 

which are believed to contain mystical powers, are used extensively in Tantric Buddhism. 

The same may be said about mudras {mystic gestures) and the use of ma7Jrj.alas 

(diagrams). But these mystical formulae, gestures, as well as all the rites, rituals and 

ceremonies of Tantric Buddhism are only to be regarded as instrumental in the 

attainment of one's spiritual release. 

The ultimate aim of Tantric Buddhism is nirva1Ja (the usual Buddhist term for 

Spiritual Release or Salvation), and this is to be obtained through the transmutation of 

that which is imperfect into that which is perfect, and through the transformation of 

sar;nsara into nirviifJa and of a man into a Buddha, an Enlightened or Liberated One. 

All men, in fact, are already liberated. 

Each is already a Buddha but he himself does 

not realize it because of his own mental darkness and impurities. 

In the personality 

of man there are such impure forces as Delusion, Hatred, Pride, Passion and Greed, 

which keep him forever bound to the round of transmigrations. 

These are strong 

forces lurking in his sub-consciousness, and they are capable of breaking through and 

overwhelming his consciousness at any moment. 

They are irrepressible and become 

even more dangerous and more powerful whenever they are suppressed or pushed back. 

They may by chance be restrained, but then only temporarily, and then only to burst 

out again stronger than ever. The only thing man can do to free himself from these 

inherent evils is to purify them, to transform their destructive forces into benevolent 

energies and direct these along the right channel towards the noble goal of Salvation.


Tiintric Buddhism expounds practical methods for such a purification of man 

and his personality; quick and effective methods through which man may regain his 

lost perfection. This can be done through Tintric practice and Perfection, which is 

Buddhahood, can be regained now-in this life time. But the Tantric way is difficult 

and its training most severe. 

Initiation is most essential in the practice of Tantra. The Tantric way is 

difficult and dangerous, so one needs the approval, guidance and supervision of a 

teacher at each step. In Tantric Buddhism there are four initiations corresponding to 

the four grades of Tantra. Each initiation gives access to the practice of one particular 

type of Tantra. 

The four grades of T antra are: 

1) Kriyatantra, dealing with instructions in rituals and exterior modes of 

worship. It is specially meant for those who are inclined to rituals, and for those who 

are slow in understanding and dull. This type of T antra will give them blessings and 

some virtuous benefits, by which they may be able to purify themselves. But for those 

of higher intelligence, the first grade of T antra represents the opening of his eye of 

wisdom. 

2) Caryatantra, dealing with ceremonies, religious excercises as well as with 

meditation. It is described as suitable for fairly intelligent persons in whom a respect 

for ceremony and devotion is accompanied by a capacity for deep thinking and serious 

meditation. 

3) Yogatantra 

4) Anuttarayogatantra 

The first two are known as 'External Tantras'. 

The third and the fourth 

represent respectively a higher and the highest types of Tantras, known together as 

'Internal Tantras' or 'Esoteric Tantras'. The Yogatantra and Anuttarayogatantra 

are only for those of strong sensibility, those endowed with high intellectual powers, 

and capable of great good deeds as well as of great evil deeds. They contain instructions 

in meditational practice and very little in ritual, aiming primarily at the unity 

of all aspects of the One and Only Reality. This demands intensive meditation and a 

constant focussing of the initiate's consciousness on that One Reality. By this 

permanent realization of Truth, the transmutation of sa'?"siira into nirviif}a is complete. 

All that we as outsiders can see of Tantric Buddhism belongs to the two lower 

grades, the External Tantras. Beyond these grades there are practically nothing to be 

seen or to be known. There are only things to be experienced, things which occur in 

the depth of each initiate's mind and which will remain his own personal experience.


Nevertheless, almost all that we can see of Tiintric Buddhism, such as its rich 

and complicated rituals, its images and textbooks containing instructions on rituals and 

on image-making-all that is essential in the first two grades of Tantras-involves the 

instructions of the great Tantric masters of the past and of the present day. These 

instructions are based on personal experiences of the masters and expressed in words 

or in forms comprehensible to their pupils. Images of deities which we see in painting 

and sculpture, as well as their descriptions in ritual texts, are based on the visions of 

these great masters, captured in concrete or descriptive formS for the benefit of those 

who cannot see for themselves. These images represent the manifold forms in which 

the Absolute Reality or Siinyata manifested itself to the meditative masters, and are 

reproduced materially in lines, forms and colours visible to our eyes. 

The practice of the External Tantras requires external objects as instruments. 

Rituals purify the initiates and communicate to them the capacity to recei-ve the 

physical and intellectual trainings that will follow. 

Images of deities play an important role both as objects of worship and as 

objects of meditation. The deities whom they represent bear various forms and names, 

but they are only different reflections of the One Sunyata, displaying forms and colours 

in accordance with various types of consciousnesses which have been reflected on the 

mirror of Sunyata. Each image, each form, each deity represents one fragment, one 

tiny aspect of the Absolute, and one atom of the enormous energy which pervades the 

universe. 

These images especially serve the purpose of the practitioners of the Kriyatantra 

and Caryatantra. Simple devotees worship them to gain blessings, protection and good 

fortune. By these worshippers, deities are evoked to manifest themselves in the 

images, and are then praised with proper words and propitiated with proper rites. 

Special worship is directed towards a particular deity who has been chosen for each 

practitioner by his teacher. The teacher takes into consideration the character of the 

pupil, considers all signs and omens which have occurred during his process of initiation, 

and then assigns to each pupil an 'iJ[adevata' (chosen deity). For those beginners 

who are still bound to the convention of name and form, it is absolutely impossible to 

get into direct contact with the Ultimate Reality which is formless. Contact can be 

gained only through the medium of names and forms, through an image and through a 

particular deity who represents that Formlessness.· The nature of man is finite while 

the nature of the Absolute is infinite. Man never can grasp the Absolute Truth at 

once in all its entirety, thus only one facet, one aspect, one part of it is chosen for him 

by his teacher as the means to bring him to that Reality. An intimate bond between


teacher and pupil, therefore, forms the very basis of Tintric training. The teacher 

knows his pupil, his background, his nature, his special merits, faults and weaknesses, 

and he wiii assign to the pupil that deity whose qualities and temperament wiii benefit 

him most. This i~(adevata will be the pupil's guardian angel, his divine inspiration 

and source of power and success throughout his career. The deity wiii be what the 

initiate takes him to be. He may be a divine protector for a soul inclined to 

worship and devotion, but for one who feels the urge to go beyond rituals and devotions 

to discover the reality behind his existence, the i~tadevata represents the way to the 

realization of that Truth. 

Every practitioner is entitled to an istvata To simple, uncomplicated people 

are assigned the less complex manifestations of the Absolute, i.e. sweet-natured 

and compassionate deities who may be approached through love, humility and devotion. 

Figs. 1-4 show some of these gentle and benign aspects of the Absolute. To complicated, 

strong-minded and obstinate people capable of great good deeds as well of great 

evil deeds, are assigned powerful, ferocious and sometimes even demonic deities (see 

Figs. 6-9). The very obstacles which chain man to the cycle of birth and death are his 

own imperfections, his own unwholesome traits. Thus be must learn to look at his 

own faults straight in the eye. He must face the worst force within himself at its 

worst, so that he may know its nature, origin, tendency and strength, as if he must 

learn to estimate the power of his worst enemy whom he must overcome. Fig. 6 shows 

an image of Hevajra, the personification of the evil sentiment of Hatred. This is 

Hatred in its most monstrous form, Hatred at the zenith of its evil power. Hatred such 

as one has to face if one wants to know it and overcome it. Fig. 7 is a configuration 

of Yama, the god of death, representing the inborn human fear of death in its most 

terrifying form. One has to face one's own emotion, be it fear, hatred or passion, in 

this way, when it is the zenith of its hideous power. Such a force cannot be annihilated. 

One can only overcome it by transforming it into something beneficial. This forceful 

energy, when purified, may be used to enable one to achieve one's goal. But the 

· Tantric methods which deal with the transformation of such forces are most dangerous 

for untrained minds. A practitioner has to be strong enough before he begins to ~voke 

an evil power which may prove too strong for him. If he does not know how to deal 

with it, he wiii be destroyed by it. If he is not pure enough to subdue this demon with 

his purity, not advanced enough in spiritual training, this demon-his own uncontrolled 

emotion-will consume b1m like a fire. This is the reason why a practitioner will always 

need the careful and constant supervision of his teacher, who will estimate his mental 

power, prescribe the appropriate Way for him and see to it that no harm will befall 

him.


Since everybody has his own chosen deity, uncountable images of gods and 

goddesses have been made, each representing a particular aspect of the Absolute who 

is formless, either to be worshipped or to be meditated upon as a medium by which to 

reach Salvation. A person may worship as many deities as he chooses, but one of 

them is his own personal guardian, his guide towards Salvation, and his divine 

counterpart with whom he will eventually merge and thereby regain his lost perfection 

-which is Buddhahood. 

Various types of deities are assigned to various types of practitioners. In 

Tintric Buddhism we may come across images of all descriptions. There are sweet, 

benign deities like the goddess Sitatara (Fig. 1), the Great Mother and Protectress from 

all dangers; .Maiijusri (Fig. 2) the Lord of Wisdom; the celestial Buddha Ratnasambhava 

(Fig. 3) who rules over the southern quarter of the universe, the element of 

Sensations and the particular emotion of Pride; and Amitabha (Fig. 4), the Buddha of 

Boundless Light and Infinite Life, the overlord of the Western Paradise, Sukhavat'i, the 

dreamland of all senti~nt beings. 

Then there are deities bearing fantastic forms, like the eleven-headed and 

thousand-armed Avalokitesvara (Fig. 5), the Watchful Saviour of our time, and the 

Compassionate Lord who looks over all directions of the universe and pronounces a 

vow to save all beings from miseries. 

The most complicated images are those of forceful, ferocious deities like 

Hevajra (Fig. 6) and Yama (Fig. 7) whom we have mentioned earlier; Hayagriva 

(Fig. 8), the God with a Horse's head, a great dangerous demon to the weak, evil and 

unpurified mind but a powerful saviour to those who understand his nature; and 

Yamantaka (Fig. 9), the ferocious manifestation of the God of Wisdom, a being most 

terrifying in appearance, but to initiates he is the Conqueror of the fear of death and 

the Destroyer of the evil darkness of Ignorance. 

Deities may be represented alone, or together with their female partner, or 

surrounded by attendants. When a deity appears together with his partner, be is often 

seen in an intim3.te sex:ual union witlt lt~r. Fig. 9 sh.J.v3 YJ. n1ntalca and !tis equally 

terrifying partner, and in 'Fig. 10 we see the supreme Buddha Vajradhara and his 

consort locked in an intimate and loving embrace. Such a pair of god and goddesswhoever 

they are, wltatever form they may have and wltatever names may be given to 

them-represent the concept of duality in non-duality, or Two in One. The Absolute 

Reality is One, though it seems to possess two contrasting aspects. Such a pair of god 

and goddess stand for all pairs of opposites as known to us in our world of names and 

forms. All contrasting and opposite elements are meeting and melting together in


their one and same origin: Sunyata. 

nirvaf}a. 

This is an image of saf!lsara as well as that of 

We see here a physical union of a man and a woman as well as the spiritual 

unity of the Self and the Not-Self, of man and all the rest of the universe. 

The force 

which again and again turns the wheel of Creation, of birth and death, is the same 

force which may carry one to Salvation. This force used in a mundane way leads to 

generation, procreation, multiplication, transmigration and disintegration. 

But the 

same force, properly controlled and well directed, will lead to man's reintegration and 

the return to the. sublime plane where he may regain his lost perfection and become 

one with the Absolute. 

In the Tantric world such a concept is also expressed by the 

pattern of a mystical triangle (see Fig. 11). This triangle, when its apex-its aspirationpoints 

downwards, means samsara or transmigration, the disintegration, the expansion 

from the One to the AlL But when its apex points upwards, it stands for the reintegration 

and the return of the All to the One. 

Then it represents nirvaiJa. 

Important and powerful deities often appear at the centre of maf!{falas, or 

mystical diagrams composed of figures, lines, patterns and colours (Pl. 12). 

In Tantric 

Buddhism, a maf!¢ala is a diagram of the universe, a geometric projection of the world 

reduced to an essential pattern, It unfolds the world of sa7]1sara as well as that of 

nirvaiJa. 

Once again we find the scheme of the disintegration from the One into the 

Many, and at the same time, that of the reintegration of the Many into the One. 

deity ix;' the centre of the maT}cjala is man himself as well as the Absolute. 


By concentrating 

his ~ind on the pattern of the maf!¢ala, by understanding "its composition in 

quiet~ contemplation, man re-discovers the way to reach his secret reality which is the 

same as .that behind the entire universe. He re-discovers himself in the centre of his 

own world in the. form of the all-comprehending deity in the centre of the ma1Jt/ala, 

the very point from which expansions and disintegration begin, but also the very point 

where all names and forms, all lines and colours, all these disintegrations flow back and 

become re-absorbed. 

After this is clear to him, he will not need the mafJcfala-this 

external object-any more, the whole structure of the universe and of his own existence 

will shine clearly in his mind's eyes. 

Like the images· of deities, mamjalas serve the purpose of the External 

Tantras . . Like the images, they are objects of worship for those who are inclined to 

worship and rituals, repres~nting shrines or residences of the gods. For those more 

'. . 

inclined to meditation, they are objects of meditation and instruments for the realization 

of Truth through the medium of names and forms.

Fig. 

Sitatara. From D.I. Lauf, Tibetan Sacred Art, Berkeley & London, 1976,-pl.c34.

Fig. 2 Manjusri. Neg. Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

Fig. 3 

Ratnasambhava. From B.C. Olschak and Geshe Thupten Wangyal, Mystik und Kunst 

Alttibets, Bern, 1972, pl. on p. 53.

Fig. 4 Amitabha. From D.I. Lauf, Tibetan Sacred Art, pl. 46.

Fig. 5 Avalokitesvara. From A . Lommel, Kunst des Buddhismus, Zurich, 1974, pl. 99.

Fig. 6 Hevajra. Neg. S. Leksukhum, Faculty of Archaeology, Silpakorn University.

Fig. 7. 

Yama. From J. van Goidsenhoven, Art Lama/que, art des dieux, Bruxelles, 

1970, pl. VI, 4.

Fig. 8 Hayagriva. From F. Sierksma, Tiber's Terrifying Deities, The Hague/Paris, 

1966, pl. 16.

ii :~·1·_:11 ~ 

Fig. 9 Yamantaka and partner. From A. Lommel, Kunst des_Buddhismus, pL 109.

Fig. 10 Vajradhara and partner. From J. van Goidsenhoven, Art lamaique, art des dieux, 

pl. 1, 2.

F1g. 11 Maf!tfala of Sarvabuddhagakini. From D. I. Lauf,'_Tibetan Sacred Art,' pl. 54.

Fig. 12 Man_tfala of Kiilacakra. From B.C . Olschak and Geshe Thupten Wangyal, 

Mystik und Kunst Alttibets, pl. on p. 111.


Beyond the stages of the Kriyatantra and Caryatantra, practically no external 

objects are needed in meditation. Instruction is given mainly on thought-creation and 

concentration, till the Self and the Not-Self merge together permanently in Siinyata. 

What follows, is the sublime experience of Siinyata which no words can describe and 

no form can represent. 

Select Bibliography 

1) S.B. Dasgupta, An Introduction to Tantric Buddhism, repr; ep., Berkeley 

& London, 1974. 

2) B. Bhattacharyya, An Introduction to Buddhist Esoterism, Chowkhamba 

Sanskrit Series, vol. XL VI, 2nd rev. ed., Varanasi, 1964. 

3) Tantra, Catalogue of an exhibition with Introduction by Ph. Rawson, Art 

Council of Great Britain, London, 1971. 

4) H.V. Guenther, Treasures on the Tibeten M.iddle Way, 2nd ed., ~id~n, 

1969. 

5) F.D. Lessing and A. Wayman, Fundamentals of Buddhist Tantras, tran.;. 

slated from the Tibetan, Indo-Iranian Monographs, vol. VIII, The Hague, 

1968. 

6) G. Tucci, The Theory and Practice of the Mal'}4ala, London, 1961. 

7) D.L. Snellgrove, The Hevajra Tantra, a Critical Study, 2 parts, London 

Oriental Series, vol. 6, repr. ed., London, 1971.

BURMESE LOKAPALAS : A PROBLEM OF IDENTIFICATION 

NANCY H. DOWLING 

In Burma the proper identification of Lokapalas is exceedingly difficult. 

Basically the problem stems from the fact that Burmese art has been greatly influenced 

by Indian traditions, yet successive migrations ofTibeto-Burman tribes have introduced 

Chinese elements. Consequently iconographic inconsistencies occur with such 

regularity that a positive identification of Lokapalas is nearly impossible. A case in 

point is a carving of four Burmese images recently brought to the attention of the 

author. (Figures 1, 2, 3, 4) Carved in the round, these four standing images wear the 

conventionalized dress associated with Burmese deva figures as well as nats and royal 

personages of the eighteenth century. The outer skirt has a multi-tiered frontal panel 

which covers an inner garment, most likely ballooned trousers. The upper vest with 

extended shoulders ties at the waist with a simple band. Petal-shaped decorations 

with jewelled inserts drape the front of the costume, and a tight fitting, sleeved 

garment extends to the wrists. The jewel studded, multi-tiered crown rises to a finial 

which recalls the splendidly truncated roofs of the Burmese shrines with a hti on top. 

With downcast eyes and upturned lips, the delicately carved oval face is framed by 

:flowered ear ornaments. 

Presumably the number four is crucial to the identification of these images and 

Lokapalas in general, In Burmese Buddhism two of the most frequently represented 

sets of four are the Lokapalas and a group of Burmese saints. In 1922-1923 Duroiselle 

reports the existence of shrines dedicated to the saints with four images inside wearing 

monk's robes. He refers to the saints as Shin Upagok, Shin Thiwali, Shin Angulimala 

and Shin Peindola.l Elsewhere Duroiselle mentions a set of Lokapalas above and below 

the sun and the moon on the jambs of the Lion's Throne carved for King Bodawapaya 

in 1816.2 

.... this was a way of emphasizing that the Throne, with the spire over it was 

Centre of the Universe and the King therefore the centre of the world, since he sat 

between the four Lokapalas.3 

* Nancy H. Dowling received her M.A. in Art History from the University of Colorado, Boulder. 

Presently living in Manila, she is working on two topics : Animal Forms in Thai Sculpture and 

the Regional Identification of Ifugao Sculpture. 

1. Melford E. Spiro, Burmese Supernaturalism, (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1967), p. 44. 

2. Yi Yi, "The Thrones of the Burmese Kings," Journal of the Burmese Research Society, XLIII 

(Rangoon, December, 1960), p. 106. 

3. Ibid., p. 107. 

86

BURMESE LOKAPALAS: A PROBLEM OF IDENTIFICATION 87 

From a sketch drawing of the Lion's Throne, these Lokapalas are virtually 

indistinguishable from any other Burmese deva figures (Figure 5).4 Dressed as royal 

personages, they have identical costumes and attributes. Sir Richard Temple also 

identified four Burmese images as Lokapalas.s He refers to them as Daddarata Nat 

Min (Dhatarattha), King of the East; Virulaka Nat Min (Virulhka), King of the South; 

Virupekka Nat Min (Virupakkha), King of the West; and Kuvera or Wethawun Nat 

Min (Kuvera of Vessavana), King of the North.6 Like Duroiselle, Temple fails to 

describe the Lokapalas according to their attributes rather they wear regal dress and 

carry identical swords. 

Perhaps a key to identifying the carving of four Burmese images is both the regal 

dress and the number four. If Duroiselle's saints wore monk's robes and the Lokapalas 

donned regal attire, then possibly the carving also depicts Lokapalas. Other evidence 

which suggests that these images are Lokapalas is the fact that each figure carries a 

unique attribute, a characteristic of Lokapalas in both India and China. Examining 

the images in a clockwise direction, King 1 carries a stupa shaped container in his left 

hand, and a curvilinear handle which supports a banner or umbrella in his right 

(Figure 1). Next King 2 writes with pen in an opened book which he supports with 

his left hand (Figure 2). King 3 holds an object which perhaps represents a drum 

(Figure 3), while King 4 displays a longitudinal cross section of a conch shell in his 

right hand and perhaps raises a sword along with a lotus blossom in his left (Figure 4). 

Now if one accepts the possibility that these four images are Lokapalas, then 

the problem becomes one of correlating the attributes each figure bears with a 

particular Lokapala. A most reasonable starting point is to analyze the attributes 

associated with the eastern quarter of the world. According to the ancient Hindu 

texts, the East is always reckoned first because Indra, the "first of the firmament 

deities",' presides over this compass point. The special importance of the East is 

again repeated in the Atanatiya Suttanta where King Vessavana or Kuvera recites that 

the eastern quarter is the "First to come".8 Another important reason for beginning 

with this quarter is that both the Chinese and Indian traditions agree that the King of 

the East carries the same iconographic attribute; namely, a stringed instrument similar 

to a harp. Presumably if the attribute is the same in these two cultures, then quite 

possibly the iconographic tradition was transferred to Burma. Two jewel encrusted 

images which recently arrived in Bangkok support this hypothesis (Figure 6). The pair 

4. The Mandalay Palace (Rangoon, 1963}, Plate 17. 

S. Sir Richard Temple, The Thirty-Seven Nats, (London, 1902), p. 33. 

6. Ibid., p. 33. 

7. Edward Moor, F.R.S .. , The Hindu Pantheon, (London, 1810), p. 261. 

8. T.W. Rhys David, Sacred Books of the Buddhists, Vol. IV (London, 1921), p. 190.

88 Nancy H. Dowling 

wear costumes normally associated with royal personages i.e. Lokapalas; yet one carries 

a Burmese harp and the other a sword. A regal figure with harp is not unusual in 

Burmese art. Such a figure is especially common to Burmese nat worship. Minye 

Aungdin Nat, Mintha Maung Shin Nat, and U Shin Gyi all play beautiful harp music 

yet not in pairs or in combination with three others. Conceivably Figure 6 might 

represent two Burmese Lokapalas which suggests that the Chinese and Indian 

attributes for the King of the East existed in Burma. By itself this does not mean that 

a particularly Burmese attribute did not develop for the King of the East also. Perhaps 

this explains why none of the Lokapalas in the circular piece in question carries a harp. 

King 3 holds an object which might be described as a drum, but a harp and a drum 

are only remotely related. Conceivably a Burmese craftsman might have confused the 

proper musical attribute carried by Dhatarattha. On the other hand perhaps the 

drum-like form actually represents a particularly Burmese attribute. Certainly the 

existence of another image carrying a similar rounded form with an elongated base 

suggests that this attribute represents more than a misidentification of musical 

instruments but rather a particularly Burmese symbol for Dhatarattha (Figure 7). 

A possible explanation for the association of a drum-like form with the 

Burmese King of the East may be found in the Hindu texts. According to the Vedic 

traditions, Indra, not Dhatarattha governs the eastern quarter of the world. As King 

of the Immortals, he presides over the middle region of Mount Meru, and is primarily 

recognized as the thunder god, who conquers the demons of drought and darkness, and 

brings forth the waters and the light. The thunderbolt is the exclusive property of 

Indra, yet as he assumes other godly roles and names, his attributes become confused. 

As the Adviser of Evil, lndra adopts the name Sakka which is the term later 

incorporated into Buddhism to represent the King of Tavatimsa in which the Lokapalas 

reside. Like lndra, presumably Sakka bears the thunderbolt as his exclusive attribute, 

but Gandhara sculpture reveals this was not always the case. "In fact, many 

thunderbolt bearers appear, but varied to a remarkable extent."9 On reliefs depicting 

the life of Buddha, the Gandhara sculpture almost invariably shows a strange figure 

close to the Buddha. There are numerous representations of this personage on earlier 

and later reliefs, but one attribute remains common to all "a peculiar club-like object 

which the figure sometimes grasps by the middle with his right hand, and sometimes 

holds upright in his palm. In the case of the more modern reliefs, one gets the 

impression that the sculptor has not known exactly what the object was intended to 

represent" I 0 (Figure 8). Speculation also surrounds the identification of the figure 

itself. Grunwedel believes the club bearers represent the old thunder god Sakka who 

9. Albert Grunwedel, Buddhist Art in India (London, 1901), p. 87. 

10. Ibid., p. 87.

BURMESE LOKAPALAS : A PROBLEM OF IDENTIFICATION 89 

performs a protective and sympathetic role in the Buddhist legends for whenever 

anything important is about to happen on earth, his throne in heaven grows warm, 

and he hastens down to earth to intervene in the interests of right and truth.ll Just 

as this cudgel-like form was possibly misinterpreted by the Gandhara sculptors, so too 

the drum-like object of the Burmese Lokapalas may indicate the sculptor had no idea 

what the intended object was supposed to be. P


supports Mount Meru. Although the Buddhists place Virupakkha in the West, the 

Hindu traditions locate the Trikuta mountain on the southern not the western side of 

Mount Meru. "And accordingly (Cunningham) find (s) the figure of Chakavako Naga 

Raja placed as one of the guardians of the South Gate of the Bharhut Railing."l3 

A possibility is that Cunningham misunderstood the placement of the pillar. At 

Bharhut the great stone railing which surrounds the stupa has four openings towards 

the four cardinal points. Most likely the pillar which bears the name Virudhako 

Yakho would face the geographic South (Figure 10). Now if one face of the pillar 

points to the South, this does not mean the other three sides must be associated with 

the southern quarter. In fact they face other geographic directions even though they 

form a portion of the Southern Gate. Assuming Virulhaka faces South, then 

Chakavako Naga Raja poses on the proper western face. Furthermore the figure 

abutting the other side of Virulhaka would then face East (Figure 11). This image is 

often described as Gan Gita although the royal personnage posed on top of the elephant 

flanked by a tree could be the King of the East in the form of lndra. 

Just as the geographic location of the King of the West changed with the 

introduction of -Buddhism, so too did the attributes he carried. Most often Virupakkha 

posed with a pasha or noose in his right hand. As the Lord of Punishment and 

Governor of Darkness, he bound the guilty in fatal cords, while as Genius of the Waters, 

the pasha symbolized the sea encircling the earth (Figure 12). In the Dharmahatuvagisvara 

Mandala the description of Varuna or Virupakkha is slightly altered with 

the Lokapala holding in his two hands the noose of a snake and a conch. Virupakkha's 

association with the sea as well as the Nagas remains the same, but the dual nature of 

this role has been carefully delineated since Virupakkha carries two distinctive 

attributes, the noose and the conch. In later Buddhist art, the strong relationship 

between Virupakkha and the Naga form continues, and the King of the West is often 

depicted with a serpent and a jewel in hand for the Nagas supposedly live in great 

luxury with abundant gems and wealth. According to early Buddhist legends, the 

Nagas were initially hostile to the teachings of Buddha, but later became avid devotees. 

To symbolize this devotion to the faith, Virupakkha as Ruler of the Nagas sometimes 

carries a chorten or small shrine proclaiming the conversion of the Nagas to Buddhism. 

In Chinese art the more disciplinary aspect of Virupakkha is emphasized with 

the Guardian of the West wielding a sword. As an informer of the good and evil going 

on in this world, "he holds a rod even over kings." 14 The intimate relationship between 

13. Alexander Cunningham, The Stupa of Bharhut, (Varanasi, 1962), p. 26. 

14. Moor, op. cit., p. 273.


Virupakkha and the Nagas remains paramount, but sometimes the Naga itself takes a 

peculiarly Chinese form. Instead of the more usual cobra image characteristic of 

Indian art, the Chinese Naga assumes a dragon-like aspect. As chief of the scaly 

reptiles, the dragon can disappear or appear at will; it can increase or decrease as well 

as lengthen or shrink. Basically the dragon is considered beneficent. In the spring it 

mounts to the sky and brings rain and guards the heavens while in the winter it enters 

the earth and hibernates in the deep. 

In both Chinese and Indian art, an inextricable relationship exists between the 

Naga form and Virupakkha as Regent of the Seas. 

Presumably the same tradition 

travelled to Burma and became at least part of the iconographic description of 

Virupakka. With respect to Burmese art and in particular the aforementioned 

Lokapalas standing in the round, only two figures in the set carry attributes which 

could possibly relate to the Chinese or Indian description of Virupakkha. King 3, 

previously described as holding a drum-like object, might in fact be carrying a water 

container. 

King 4 provides an even more plausible relationship. He displays a 

longitudinal cross section of a conch shell, and also wields a sword, attributes which 

recall the dual nature of Virupakkha, as Lord of the Seas and Punishment. As 

witnessed before with Chinese and Indian Lokapalas, a confusion of attributes often 

occurs, and such seems to be the case with the Burmese Virupakkha. A set of wooden 

Burmese doors found in Bangkok depict Lokapala figures as appropriate entrance 

guardian figures (Figures 13, 14 ). The left hand door shows a spritely posed 

personnage supporting a vase in his right hand from which sprout vegetal forms 

(Figure 13). 

In ths left hand he carries a lotus flower and nimbly balances on a toothgrinning 

dragon whose scaled body wriggles back into space. 

The dance-like posture 

of the figure recalls a Ceylonese apsaras who also carries a blossoming vase, yet the 

supporting dragon on the door refers to a Chinese heritage (Figure 15). 

If the door 

carver was aware of Buddhist cosmological iconography, then this figure represents 

Virupakkha; the dragon symbolizes the Chinese Naga form and the water vase 

designates the close association between Virupakkha and the waters of the world. 

If all these assumptions are correct, then which king in the carving in the 

round represents Virupakkba? The drum-like form carried by King 3 could designate 

a water container like the one held by the royal personnage on the carved door. 

However, King 4 displays attributes more consistent with the Chinese and Indian 

description of Virupakkha. Furthermore, he carries a blooming lotus flower as does 

the figure on the carved door.


The guardian of the northern quarter is alternately described as Vaisravan or 

Kuvera (the Pali name is Waisrawana and in Sanskrit Vaisravana is a patronymic of 

Kuvera) the king who resides in Visana with its numerous cities, parks, lakes, assembly 

halls, and crowds of inhabitants. Brahma appointed Kuvera as God of Riches, and he 

rules over the Yakshas who guard the hidden treasures of the world and bestow its 

riches and prosperity. The Yakshas also guard earthly residences. Often they pose 

on either side of doors or even appear on carvt>d posts. At Bharhut they protect the 

gateways (Figure 16), and at Nasik they watch over the cave entrances. 

The benevolent image of the Yakshas as both guardians of worldly treasures 

and earthly residences contrasts greatly with the description of the Yakshas as decadent 

divinities who savor human flesh. This widespread fear of cannibalistic Yakshas is 

reflected in the legend of Yakshini Hariti who daily kidnapped one child from the 

town of Rajagriba to help feed her 500 children. Grunwedel suggests that. the 

Yakshas as consumers of human flesh reflects the influence of "aboriginal local 

divinities; and if so are a survival of demonolatry."l 5 Cunningham seems less concerned 

with the cannibalistic nature of the Yakshas. Rather he believes the demonic 

interpretation stems from the derivation of the word Yaksha which means to eat.l6 

He cites the Yaksha figures on the Bharhut sculpture as a case in point. They pose as 

benevolent mortals or crouching, docile servants. In fact, the crouching form who 

supports ''Kupiro Yakko" submits humbly and with a smile to the weight of the 

guardian king. This innocent portrayal of the Yaksha is not always the case though. 

Eight centuries later, the same crouching Yaksha form emerges in the earliest Buddhist 

temple of Japan at Horyuji (Figure 17). He supports Komoku-ten and assumes a 

stance similar to the Bharhut stone although the facial expression has transformed. 

The benign and humble vahana has been replaced with an awesome, red-eyed ogre, 

who snarls with his fang-like incisors, and stares wide-eyed and menacing, a creature 

easily capable of eating men's vitals. 

Besides guarding worldly treasures and consuming human flesh, the Yakshas 

performed other tasks for Kuvera. They drew his water, danced and sang for his 

pleasure and often worked so hard that many died in his service. Among the Yakshas 

are numerous messengers; in particular, Tatola, Tatotala, Tattala, Tatojasi, Suri, Raja, 

Arittha, Nemit and Ojasi. Apparently they carry his proclamations and make them 

known in Uttarakuru. "And these are they who take his embassies and make them 

known".l7 

15. Grunwedel, op. cit., p. 104. 

16. Cunningham, op. cit., p., 20. 

17. David, op. cit., p. 193.


The attributes associated with Kuvera emphasize his role as God of the Riches 

and Lord of the Yakshas. In India he always appears corpulent and covered with 

jewels. He carries a mongoose in his left hand, perhaps spitting jewels and a banner 

in his right. Presumably the banner signifies the victory of Buddhism over other 

beliefs as well as the acceptance of Buddhism by the Yakshas. The mongoose has 

various interpretations. According to Getty, the Tibetan lamas claim the mongoose 

symbolizes Kuvera's victory over the Nagas as Guardian of the Treasures. IS On the 

other hand, Getty suggests that the mongoose is really just a bag made of mongoose 

skin, replacing an earlier Indian attribute of a long, narrow gold bag to hold the 

treasures of the world.I9 This interpretation would explain why the mongoose spits 

jewels. In China Kuvera changes his rich royal robes and dons a warrior's uniform to 

guard the entering halls of the Buddhist temples. As in India he carries a banner or 

lance in his right hand and balances a stupa in his left. 

According to Getty the small 

chorten represents the Iron Tower where Najarjuna found the Buddhist scriptures.20 

As keeper of the world's greatest treasures, Kuvera eyes the shrine as befitting one of 

the guardians of Buddhism. 

The traditional attributes associated with Kuvera are more difficult to ascertain 

in Burmese art. Of the four Lokapalas in the round, King 2 carries both a stupa form 

and a banner in the correct hands. This by itself would suggest King 2 is definitely 

Kuvera, Regent of the North. Another image taken from the book, Mandalay by 

V. C. Scott 0' Connor also depicts a Lokapala figure possibly carrying a banner (Figure 

18). The fact that two distinct images carry similar attributes proves that traditional 

Chinese and Indian attributes were adopted and correctly repeated by the Burmese 

artists. However, doubt emerges again with the appearance of another carved door 

which depicts a royal personnage gaily balancing on a fanged ogre, and nimbly writing 

with pen in book (Figure 14). The awesome demon recalls the red-eyed Yaksha 

cannibals described in later Buddhist literary sources. As mentioned previously, 

Kuvera and the Yakshas ar~ inextricably linked, but what'could the book signify, if in 

fact this is a proper assumption? In Burmese art, a book writing image is common. 

The quartet in question contains one of these figures and there are numerous examples 

in private Bangkok collections (Figures 19, 20, 21). A writing figure is also included 

in John Lowry's book entitled Burmese Art from the Victoria and Albert Museum. 

Lowry speculates that the writing image relates to the activities of the four great 

Kings, but fails to associate the writing figure with a specific Lokapala. Rather 

18. Getty, op. cit., p. 159. 

19. Ibid., p. 159. 

20. Ibidp. 167.


he believes the image portrays Matali, Sakka's charioteer, as he compiles the report on 

human activities for Sakka. In light of the present material, the Matali interpretation 

for the writing figure becomes quite remote. If the personnage was indeed Matali, 

there would be no need to associate him with three other images as is the case with the 

sculpture in the round. Lowry also associates the image with another figure whom he 

identies as Sakka. As King of Tavatimsa, he displays an object which Lowry cannot 

identify. Based upon numerous observations of other Burmese images who also hold 

their hands in a similar position, it becomes apparent that Sakka carries a conch shell 

just as King 4 does (Figures 22, 23, 24). Thus the writing figure as well as the conch 

carrying image are interrelated as Lowry suggests. However, the relationship does 

not end with the two deities as he contends. There are in fact two more figures 

necessary to complete the grouping of four Lokapalas. 

The question as to which image represents Kuvera still remains. Could the 

association between Kuvera and his numerous messengers be expressed by a writing 

figure? Rhys Davids in his editing of the Mahagovinda Suttra suggest that the 

Lokapalas served as recorders of events at the great assembly halJs21 and since 

Vessavana acts as spokesman for the Lokapalas as is the case in the Atantiya Sutton/a, 

perhaps he is best portrayed as a scribe or message bearer. 

The quandary moves on as the last of the four great Kings is analyzed. The 

King of the South or Virulhaka rules the Kumbhandas or the giant demons. According 

to Chinese sources, the Kumbhandas are shaped like a gourd or a pot, or with a scrotum 

like one. In the Hindu pantheon, Yama is the Regent of the South or lower world in 

which the infernal fires blaze. As Judge of Departed Souls, Yama abides in the city of 

Yamapu where the deceased appear and receive a just sentence from the Judge of the 

Dead. Depending upon their previous existence, the departed may ascend to Swerga, 

the first heaven; descend to Naraka, the snaky hell, or assume an animal form on 

earth unless the offense deserves condemnation to the life of a vegetable, mineral, 

prison etc. In the Dharmadhatuvagisvara Mandala, the Lord of the South is the 

second deity in a series of eight gods of direction. Even in the eleventh century, the 

association between the Judge of Death and the Regent of the South continues for 

Yama appears in the mandala with both his staff of death and Sula or skull cap. The 

grim notion associated with the southern quarter follows through the Buddhist scriptures. 

In the Atanatiya Sutton/a, "the quarter of south"22 is "where they whom men call 

Peta-folk reside, Folk rough of speech, back biters, murderers, Brigands and crafty 

21. T.W. Rhys David, Sacred Books of the Buddhists, Vol. III, (London, 1910), p. 263. 

22. David, op. cid., Vol. IV, p. 191.


minded, looking hence."2 l Though the unsavory aspect of the southern hemisphere 

predominates in Indian literature, early Buddhist sculpture fails to associate the South 

with the infernal worlds. At Bharhut Virulhaka rather than Yama guards the southern 

region. He stands erect in regal dress with his two hands posed in prayer. Above 

his splendid turban, a stupa replaces the usual vegetal motif found in the other lunettes. 

Usually in India Virulhaka wields a long sword and dons the skin of an elephant's 

head for a helmet. Perhaps the stupa merely symbolizes the conversion of Virulhaka 

and the Kumbhandas to the new faith. Kuvera claims, "They too behol (d) Buddha, 

kin o' th' sun, Mighty, serene, acclaim him from afar ... In wisdom's lore and conduct 

thoroughly versed; the Buddha do we worship, Gotama !"24 

In China the grim aspect of Yama as Guardian of the South characterizes 

Virulhaka. He holds an umbrella at whose raising a violent thunder and rain storm 

ensues or according to others brings universal darkness. The Taoist also have their 

Lokapalas with Mo Li-hung corresponding to Virulhaka. He also holds a magical 

umbrella, adorned with gems and precious stones as well as mother of pearl. On this 

umbrella are inscribed the following words: "Shut and open heaven and earth, 

Chwang-tsai-k'ien-kw'un."25 When Mo Li-hung raises the umbrella, darkness falls 

upon the universe and the sun and moon become obscured. If he moves ever so 

slightly, the earth quakes down to its very center. Just as those who die wait for 

Yama's judgment so too the living fear the movements of Virulhaka. 

Equipped with the iconographic attributes associated with both the Chinese 

and Indian Virulhaka forms, one turns now to the Burmese sculpture in the round to 

elicit any continuity between Burma and the respective cultures. The awesomeness of 

Yama with his staff of death and skull cap appears nowhere. King 4 carries a sword 

in conjunction with a conch shell and lotus blossom, but in no respect does the shell 

relate to Virulhaka. However, a Lokapala with only a sword is not an unusual 

attribute in Burmese art. Several images come to mind; in particular, a Lokapala who 

stylistically matches Dhatarattha playing the Burmese harp (Figure 6). Another 

figure appears on a carved monastery door holding a sword in his two hands (Figure 

25). The monkey-like form below who supports the lotus flower on which the 

Lokapala stands perhaps represents a demon Kumbhanda. King 1 might also 

represent Virulhaka. He displays a stupa and a object formerly described as a banner. 

Conceivably, the banner could represent an umbrella instead. Though the ribbed 

portion of the umbrella does not extend down the handle as far as one would expect, 

23. Ibid, p. 191. 

24. Ibid, p. 191. 

25. Henry Dore, S.J., Researches Into Chinese Superstitions (Shanghai, 1922), p. 402.


confusion over the correct attribute or the inability to carve the umbrella properly in 

minature might explain the variation. If the 'banner' is in fact an umbrella, there is a 

direct correspondence with the Chinese Virulhaka who raises and lowers his umbrella 

at will. Accordingly the stupa might refer to the remote Indian attribute depicted on 

the Bharhut Virudhaka-Yako who guards the Southern Gate. Another Lokapala who 

might possibly portray Virudhaka is King 2 who writes with pen in his book. According 

to Hindu mythology, Yama has numerous dog messengers who wander among 

men to summon them to their master. In the Puranas, Yama is described as the Judge 

of Men, and supposedly rules over many hells in which the wicked suffer. The Padma 

Purana says "Yama fulfills the office of Judge of the Dead, as well as sovereign of the 

dammed; all that d1e appearing before him and being confronted with Chitragupta 

the recorder, by whom their actions have been registered."26 Thus Yama as the Judge 

of the Dead as well as his assistant Chitragupta record the deeds of man perhaps even 

in a book not unlike the one carried by King 2. Furthermore, perhaps the ghoulish 

figure on the carved door who balances the lithesome ·Lokapala who also writes in an 

opened book represents a Kumbhanda rather than a Yaksha as suggested before. 

As the analysis of the last Lokapala ends, a final question arises; namely, can 

the Burmese Lokapalas ever be identified individually according to their attributes. 

The sculpture in the round represents a unique work which includes four Lokapalas, 

yet under close examination it becomes apparent that each Lokapala could represent 

more than one cardinal point. King 1 carrying a stupa and banner or umbrella could 

represent Virulhaka or Kuvera; King 2 with his pen and open book could also be 

Virulhaka or Kuvera; King 3 who holds an unidentified container could pose as either 

Dhatarattha or Virupakkha, and King 4 with a conch and sword suggests both 

Virupakkha and Virulhaka. To confound the issue even more, the sculpture in the 

round depicts two Lokapala figures which carry multiple attributes. Normally this is 

not the case with Burmese Lokapalas. In fact, all the other Lokapalas included in 

this analysis carry single attributes with the harp, the shell and the book and pen as 

the most common forms. Thus, if one considers both multiple combinations of 

attributes as well as individual ones, a sum total of eight Burmese attributes can be 

enumerated; the four already examined in the sculpture in the round and the sword, 

the shell, the harp, and the umbrella or banner as illustrated in V.C. Scott 0' Connor's 

Mandalay. 

The four individual attributes most common to Burmese Lokapalas are easily 

identifiable. This is quite fortunate for the analysis because the book and pen 

26. Wilkins, op cit., p. 70. 

27. Moor, op. cit., p. 263.


attribute which is listed among the most common attributes also appears in the sculpture 

in the round. Unquestionably the harp belongs in the eastern quarter with Dhatarattha, 

as King of the mythological Musicians who worship and serve Buddha. No other 

explanation satisfi~s the attribute. Likewise, the conch shell is easy to designate. 

Immediately the term conch brings to mind lapping ocean waves, and endless blue-green 

waters. Of the remaining three Lokapalas, only Virupakkha or Varuna, the Lord of 

the West, fulfillies such attributes. "Varuna green, whom foamy waves obey,"27 

serves as Regent of the Seas. The last two Lokapalas present greater problems, but in 

all likehhood the sword signifies Virulhaka, the Lord of the South. As the ruler of 

unsavory and murderous demons, he wields his sword and ruthlessly judges both man 

and demons alike. Of course, the book and pen could feasibly represent Virulhaka as 

recorder of deeds performed by the deceased, yet given that there are only two 

remaining Lokapalas, it is more reasonable to associate a sword with a Yama-like 

personnage rather than a god of riches. This conclusion leaves the book and pen in 

the northern quarter with Kuvera, Lord of the Yakshas and Protector of the Worldly 

Riches. "Sought by all, enjoyed by few," 28 Kuvera has numerous Yaksha subjects 

who serve as messengers and proclaim his word. Certainly the carved wooden Burmese 

door with a writing Lokapala supported by a Yaksha suggests that this conclusion is 

correct. Thus, the four most common Lokapalas can be identified as follows: the book 

and pen -- Kuvera; the harp -- Dhatarattha; the sword -- Virulhaka; and the shell - 

Virupakkha (Table 1). 

With the four most common Burmese Lokapala attributes enumerated, the 

identification problem associated with the sculpture in the round begins to unravel. 

There are four possible Lokapala combinations which describe the sculpture in the 

round (Table II). Diagram a presents one possibility; namely, the shell and sword 

combination in the West. According to the established attributes, a single shell 

describes Virupakkha. None of the other recognized attributes relate to diagram a. 

Diagram b is the most promising combination because the book and pen appear in the 

north which directly corresponds with the individual Burmese attributes. Furthermore, 

the sword identifies the South although not in combination with the conch which is a 

totally separate attribute for most Burmese Lokapala forms. The stupa and the banner 

in the West, and the container in the East both fail to conform to the recognized 

attributes for these cardinal points. The same holds true for all the attributes in 

diagrams c and d. Thus when one examines the sculpture in the round with respect 

to the established individual attributes, diagram b contains the only acceptable 

combination of attributes for 2 basic reasons: 1- it has the greatest number of attributes 

28. Ibid., p. 263.


which corresponds to their respective cardinal points. 

which the book and pen resides in the northern quarter. 

2- it is the only diagram in 

As previously mentioned, 

the book and pen is the only attribute common to the sculpture in the round and the 

individual Lokapala. 

Though diagram b emerges as the most likely arrangement for the sculpture in 

the round, there are too many attributes left unidentified that fail to conform to 

recognizable Burmese attributes. 

To explain this lack of correlation, the Chinese and 

Indian attributes must now be re-introduced to cross check the validity of the Burmese 

attributes as: Kuvera-pearl and snake, or banner and stupa; Virulhaka-umbrella; 

Dhatarattha-stringed instrument; Virupakkha-chorten and serpent, or sword (Table 1). 

In diagram a the stupa and banner stand properly in the north, while the shell and 

sword in the western quarter partially conform to recognizable Chinese attributes 

(Table II). Unfortunately, the other attributes show no correlation. Diagram b 

contains one or perhaps two possibilities. The stupa in the West is correct, but not in 

relation with a banner or umbrella; the container in the East might refer to the 

heavenly musicians if the object is in fact a drum. As for diagram c there is only one 

tentative attribute. In the South the Lokapala raises a "banner" which might really 

be an umbrella; but again the umbrella is never depicted with a stupa. Diagram d 

has no recognizable attribute. Thus, with respect to Chinese attributes, diagram a 

contains the only definitive attribute; namely, the stupa and the banner in the North, 

while diagram b has 2 hypothetical ones. 

From the Chinese Lokapalas, one now moves to the Indian tradition with the 

four Lokapalas associated with the following attributes: Kuvera-mongoose and banner; 

Virulhaka-long sword; Virupakkha-conch or chorten or snake noose; Dhataratthastringed 

instrument (Table I). In diagram a the stupa and banner partially conforms 

to the accepted Indian attribute (Table II). Again the banner appears with a mongoose 

not a stupa. In the West Virupakkha displays a shell along with a sword. The sword 

is not specifically designated in Indian iconography, but represents a feasible choice if 

one considers Virupakkha as Lord of Punishment. Both the book and the container in 

their respective quarters have no relevancy. In diagram b there are at least 2 or 

perhaps 3 possibilities. Virupakkha, Lord of the West, sometimes carries a chorten 

yet not with a banner. The sword in the South is also possible but the shell is wrong. 

The container in the East is only feasible if it represents a musical instrument. As for 

diagram c and d, nothing conforms to recognizable Indian attributes. So it appears 

that diagram a and b represent the only possible combination of attributes. Diagram 

a is more acceptable because it contains one positive attribute, the shell and the sword, 

while diagram b had mostly suppositions.


Having completely analyzed the 4 diagrams with respect to the Burmese, 

Indian and Chinese attributes, one can safely eliminate diagrams c and d as possible 

combinations (Table 11). That leaves diagrams a and b with diagram a relevant to 

both the Chinese and Indian attributes, and diagram b significant for the Burmese. 

Based upon this information, one is forced to conclude that the creator of the sculpture 

in the round was familiar with Buddhist cosmology and the Lokapala mythology, but 

unaware of the proper attributes associated with each king. He perfectly reproduced 

the banner and stupa attribute associated with the Chinese Kuvera; the sword and the 

shell correctly interprets Virupakkha 's role as Lord of Punishment and Regent of the 

Seas as described in the Indian scriptures; and the book and the pen defines the 

Burmese Kuvera as depicted on the carved wooden door previously mentioned. The 

container which has yet to be positively identified remains unexplained although 

perhaps in the future other Lokapalas will come to light and bear more information 

on this attribute. Thus, the sculpture in the round contains 2 K.uveras, 1 carrying a 

Chinese attribute and the other Burmese, 1 Virupakkha displaying Indian attributes 

and lastly the unidentifiable king who is most likely associated with the East.

Table I 

King of the East 

(Gandhabbas) 

King of the West 

(Naga) 

King of the North 

(Yakshas) 

King of the South 

(Kumbhandas) 

India 

stringed instrument 

pasha, noose of a 

snake, conch, serpent, 

jewels, chorten 

mongoose in left hand 

spitting jewels, 

banner in right 

long sword, elephant 

head, helmet 

China 

stringed instrument 

sword, dragon 

banner or lance in 

right hand, stupa in 

left 

umbrella 

Burma 

stringed instrument, 

drum 

shell 

book and pen 

sword 

--

Table II 

a 

N 

atupa and banner 

,•..·········••········•·•·•...............\. 

; \ 

shel\ and sword 

W 

l 

i E 

book an~ pen 

\ / 

'··... ../ 

"·,.,· ................. ·····"' .r.!' 

s 

container 

b 

N 

book and ·pen 

/ •• ·····••'''''"'""""'"•••,,,,,,'>;;,•• 

stupt{ and banner ·\. 

W \ 

jE 

\ contrner 

·····., ...... / 

l"t:l ........ ~ 

s 

shell and sword 

/ . ~. 

c 

N 

container 

....... ,.--........ ..... ~ 

\ 

l \ 

bookland pen 

t 

W \ 

jE 

\ shell and !JWOrd 

\ . 

······.., .r/l 

, ___ ,,~~· 

s 

atupa and banner 

1!1. 

shell and sword 

........ ~·~ ......-......,...... 

..·· ··..... 

. .... 

I ~ 

contiil:ier 

i\stupa and ba.DD.k 

w i =· 

d 

I 

·· .......... _,_,,.. ... ·····:··'' 

s 

book and pen

Figure I: Burmese Lokapalas, View of King I and King 2, Wood, Nineteenth 

Century (?) . Private Collection, Bangkok, Thailand.

Figure 2: Burmese Lokapalas, View of King 2, Wood, Nineteenth Century (?). 

Private Collection, Bangkok, Thailand.

Figure 3: Burmese Lokapalas, View of King 3, Wood, Nineteenth Century(?). 


Figure 4: Burmese Lokapalas, View of King 4, Wood, Nineteenth Century (?). 


Figure 5: Sketch of Upper Portion of Lion's Throne, Burmese, 1916. (Ministry 

of Union Culture, Mandalay Palace, Rangoon, 1963, Plate 17).

Figure 6 : Burmese Lokapalas, Wood, Figure on 

Left Carries Burmese Harp; Figure on 

Right Carries Sword, Nineteenth Century(?). 

Private Collection, Bangkok, 

Thailand. 

Figure 7 : Burmese Lokapala Carrying Unidentified 

Container, Wood, Nineteenth 

Century. Private Collection, Bangkok, 

Thailand.

Figure 8 : Various Club Bearing Images (Grunwedel, Buddhist Art in 

India, London, 1901, p. 88).

Figure 9: Chakavako Naja, Raja Stone, Bharhut 

Pillar, Early First Century, B.C., 

(Alexander Cunningham, The Stupa 

of Bharhut, Varanasi, 1962). 

Figure 10: Virudhako-Yakho, Stone, Bharhut 

Pillar, Early First Century, B.C. , 

(Henrich Zimmer, The Art of 

Indian Asia, New York, 1955).

Figure 11 : Royal P~sonnage, 

Stone, Bharhut 


(Alexander Cunningham, The Stupa 

of Bharhut, Varanasi, 1962). 

Figure 12 : 

Varuna, Stone, Northeast India, 

Eighth Century, Metropolitan Museum 

of Art (Asia Society, Inc., 

The Art of India, Tokyo, 1963, 

Plate 33).

Figure 13: Burmese Door with Lokapala, Wood, 

Nineteenth Century(?), Private Collection, 

Bangkok, Thailand. 

Figure 14: Burmese Door with Lokapala, Wood, 

Nineteenth Century(?). Private Collection, 

Bangkok, Thailand.

Figure 15 : Apsara Carrying Vase, Degaldaruwa, 

Ceylon, Mid-Eighteenth 

Century (PhilipS. Rawson, Indian 

Painting, New York, 1961, p. 96). 

Figure 16: Kupiro-Yakho, Stone, Bharhut 


(Alexander Cunningham, The 

Stupa of Blzarlzut, Varanasi, 1962).

Figure 17 : 

Komoku-ten or Virupaksa, Horyuji, 

Japan. Seventh Century. 

(Henrich Zimmer, The Art of 

Indian Asia, New York, 1955). 

Figure 18 : Burmese Lokapala Carrying 

Banner or Umbrella, Wood, 

Nineteenth Century. (V.C. 

Scott O'Connor, Mandalay, 

London, 1907).

Figure 19: Burmese Lokapala Writing in Book, 

Wood, Nineteenth Century (?) 

Private Collection, Bangkok, Thailand. 

Figure 20: Burmese Lokapala Writing in Book, 

Wood, Early Twentieth Century(?). 

Private Collection. Bangkok, Thailand.

Figure 21 : Burmese Lokapala Writing in 

Book. Bronze, Eighteenth Century(?) 

Private Collection, Bangkok, 

Thailand. 

Figure 22 : Burmese Lokapala Holding Conch 

Shell, Wood, Nineteenth Century(?). 

(V.S. Scott O'Connor, Mandalay, 

London, 1907).

Figure 23 : Burmese Loka palas, Figure on left perha ps held a sword; Figure 

on right displays a conch, Wood, Nineteenth Century (?), Private 

Collection, Bangkok, Thailand.

Figure 24 : 

Burmese .Lokapala probably 

carrying shell, Wood, Late 

Eighteenth Century(?). Private 

Collection, Bangkok, 

Thailand. 

Figure 25 : Burmese Lokapala with Sword or 

Bludgeon, Wood, Nineteenth 

Century(?). (V.C. Scott O'Connor, 

Mandalay, London, 1907).

Introduction 

KINSHIP AND LOCALITY IN HUA KOK 

By 

JEREMY H. KEMP* 

Kinship has received comparatively little attention from anthropologists 

working in Thailand, partly because of the theoretical interests of researchers but also 

because of the perceived limited role of kinship in determining an individual's life 

chances. Kinship arrangements in rural Central Thailand are often presented as fluid 

or amorphous yet kinship at least in its idiomatic use permeates Thai society very 

thoroughly. In this discussion of the character of the connection of residence patterns 

and major social activities with kinship I depend, except where otherwise indicated, on 

data collected during my first period of fieldwork in Hua Kok in 1966-67.1 In 

subsequent publications I will look specifically at the changes affecting Hua Kok since 

then, but in this background paper using the 'ethnographic present' my intention is a 

rather general presentation and interpretation of the role of kinship in both expressing 

and engendering some degree of community identity. 

Locality 

Hua Kok straddles the river Wang Thong some eighteen kilometres east of 

Phitsanulok in what Pendleton designated the Upper Plain of the Chao Phraya and its 

tributaries (1962: 39). The hamlet occupies a narrow belt of land raised by former 

flooding. On the Phitsanulok side the fields behind the hamlet are divided into rice 

paddies, their small size attesting to minor variations in level despite a superficially 

flat, plain-like appearance. On the east bank the land undulates gently until reaching 

the first massive outcrop of the Petchabun mountain range some four kilometres away. 

Much of this was considered unsuitable for paddy cultivation on account of its 

unevenness and remained forest until the introduction of maize in the latter part of the 

nineteen fifties. Due in part to local pressure on agricultural resources and the 

existence of market opportunities, the forest was finally cleared and maize rapidly 

became the second most important crop in the district. 

In late 1966 Hua Kok contained forty-eight houses, all but six being on the 

west bank. On this side of the river a cart track runs northwards for about three and 

a half kilometres, past Wang Khut and Bang Saphan, to the District Office (amphoe) 

* Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kent at Canterbury. 

1. Fieldwork in 1966-7 was sponsored by the London-Cornell Project for East and South-East 

Asian Studies which was jointly financed by the Carnegie and Nuffield Foundations. 

101

102 Jeremy H. Kemp 

and market in Wang Thong where it joins the main Phitsanulok-Lomsak highway. 

Southwards it continues along the riverbank to the temple at tpe far end of Wang 

Phom where it turns inland. In the dry season it is occasionally used by trucks, but 

in the rains a number of low-lying places make it impassible to all motorized vehicles. 

Important as it is in linking the neighbourhood to the local market and administrative 

centre, this is no bustling highway. Except in the early morning and evening during 

the farming season the track is often deserted. 

Indeed, Hua Kok lacks any obvious focal point around which activities 

fostering community identity and solidarity might occur. There is no ritual centre be 

it temple or animist shrine, neither is there a school nor any other public building 

within its boundaries. A single shop-house beside the road at the northernmost end 

of the hamlet maintains a supply of nearly aU the day-to-day necessities in which 

households are not self-sufficient, but the people who spend most time there are the 

close kin and neighbours of the shopkeepers. Others come and go after a few words 

or send their children to make purchases. Sometimes a few men buying liquor sit 

and drink on the back porch, but overall the store does not function as a social or 

recreational centre.· 

Even the river does not dominate the settlement in the manner of the canals 

and rivers further south. It bas cut deeply into the earth and except when in flood 

can be crossed on foot by an adult. The river is not used as a highway except during 

the rains, the only time it has sufficient depth for large trading and motor boats to 

reach the market. Most houses are clustered in groups or three or four and set back 

from the river rather than facing directly on to it. Nevertheless it does play an 

important part in the life of the hamlet; although there is no single riverside gathering 

place most people visit it several times a day to collect water and perform ablutions. 

Physically Hua Kok is certainly a discrete unit in being spatially separated by 

fields and gardens from neighbouring settlements. Socially its standing is far less 

certain given the lack of foci around which joint activities might be generated. It 

does not necessarily fo11ow from the foregoing that Hua Kok is anything more than an 

assemblage of houses. For such evidence one must turn to the organization of the 

major activities of political, economic, religious and familial life, yet even here no 

immediately coherent overall picture emerges. 

In common with other settlements in the neighbourhood Hua Kok is not a 

formal administrative unit, though the present village headman happens to live at the 

northern end of Hua Kok in the shop-house. The rest of the village consists of Wang 

Phom which is over twice the size of Hua Kok, and part of the dispersed hamlet of 

Wang Ya Nang situated immediately beyond Wang Phom. In all, the village consists

Wang Thong 

Bang Snphan 

Hua Kok 

•

KINSHIP AND LOCALITY IN HUA KOK 103 

of about two hundred houses and given the fact that it has its own school and temple 

it readily appears on paper that the village is the primary communal unit to which 

people from Hua Kok belong. 

In reality the situation is very different with all Hua Kok children attending 

the school in Bang Saphan. The majority of Hua Kok residents also frequent the 

Bang Saphan temple more often than the one in Wang Phom, yet both temples and 

schools are almost equidistant from Hua Kok. 

Even the affairs of local government 

are conducted in terms of dyadic relations with the headman rather than of the village 

as a corporate entity. 

Finally it is important to note that during the period under 

discussion there was neither any major development scheme operating in the area nor 

any opportunities for formal political activity. 

The lack of physical foci for interaction already alluded to is further reinforced 

by the absence of any clearly defined surrounding hamlet territory. 

This was formerly 

even more pronounced with the rice fields behind Hua Kok being owned and worked 

almost exclusively by farmers from the settlements to the north. 

There has been some 

consolidation of these fields in the hands of Hua K.ok residents but this is a slow 

process. 

Most continue to farm paddies to the south, behind and beyond Wang Phom, 

where they are interspersed with those of people from other settlements. 

The pattern 

of land holding for the maize fields is similarly dispersed with people from different 

hamlets working in adjoining fields. 

The recruitment of labour for agricultural tasks whether it be of kin, friends, 

or mere acquaintances, in part depends on 'happening' to meet them when making 

plans. The pattern of land holding thus suggests that co-operation between farming 

groups is less likely to be limited to hamlet co-residents than would be the case if there 

was a discrete area of hamlet fields. 

The reciprocal labour groups recruited for 

transplanting and sometime> for harvesting rice are as likely to include people met 

along the path to one's farm or who work in adjacent fields as they are fellow residents 

met when bathing in the late evening. 

Indeed, the dispersal of fields on occasion leads 

to the exclusion of close neighbours and friends because some families move to field 

huts to eliminate daily travelling to and fro in the work season. 

The same selective 

factors also pertain to the recruitment of wage-labour for both maize and rice cultivation. 

On the other hand, involvement in a wider social network does not preclude 

significant interaction between co-residents, and these wider networks themselves lack 

well demarcated social boundaries. Temple congregations are not exclusive bodies 

with a formal membership, but those who regularly attend services tend to frequent


Bang Saphan or Wang Phom, and most people residing in the southern half of Hua 

Kok prefer the latter temple. However, the division is modified by Bang Saphan being 

the most important temple in the district, its abbot the district religious head is the 

only monk qualified to conduct ordinations. 

The increased food requirements of the 

forty or more monks and novices resident there during the rainy season retreat enables 

them to include the whole of Hua Kok in an early morning round of alms-collecting. 

In contrast there are at most only four or five monks at Wang Phom during the same 

period. 

The individual and his destiny is an aspect of Buddhism sometimes emphasized 

to the neglect of collective activities. In addition to personal merit-making temple 

attendance is a social event. 

Indeed, I have seen special foods prepared on the eve of 

wan phra by people who then failed to present them at the temple because none of 

their friends and neighbours were going. 

Attendance patterns reflect many factors 

which include the distribution of kin and ties of friendship, the expected size of 

congregations, and opportunities for young people to meet others of the opposite sex. 

Bang Saphan is usually compared favourably with Wang Phom because of the large 

number of people from a wide area who attend, especially for major festivals. 

On the other hand, an informant who had previously expressed a strong 

preference for Bang Saphan decided to go to Wang Phom on wan phra in the 1968 

Lent. Her reason was that as she intended spending the whole day and night observing 

the Eight Precepts Wang Phom was better because she knew and was friendly with 

almost everyone there doing likewise, whereas she would have been a comparative 

stranger at Bang Saphan. 

Within Hua Kok ceremonies are arranged on behalf of single households except 

where two or three co-operate for events associated with ordinations. Participation 

in these festivities can involve the whole hamlet but also many from neighbouring 

settlements. 

The only occasion resembling a hamlet ceremony proved to have been 

organized by two men from Bang Saphan. 

This was actually described initially by one 

informant as rham bun klang b(m, "making merit at the hamlet centre", but in fact it 

was merit making at an irrigation truck (tham bun rot nak). A government irrigation 

truck was temporarily located in Hua Kok after being used to pump water into the 

paddies towards the end of the growing season. 

Five monks were brought from Bang 

Saphan to be fed and bless the truck, and some thirty people from Bang Saphan, Wang 

Khut and Hua Kok attended. A similar pattern of interaction occurs with respect to 

non-Buddhist activities; specialists may come from outside the hamlet for rituals 

involving individuals or, at most, single households. 

which might in any way be equated with Hua Kok. 

No ritual draws a congregation


How does this very fragmented and diffuse picture of hamlet social organization 

compare with residents' own perceptions of their social universe? How do they 

represent themselves and how are they identified by others? The term mu ban can 

easily give rise to confusion: by formal definition it is the smallest administrative unit 

but among ordinary people it is used far less rigidly to include hamlets. Sometimes, 

like Hua Kok, these are demographically and geographically discrete units, but one can 

also have fairly continuous settlement along canals and rivers. Popular designation as 

a mii ban or simply ban thus provides an insight into local perceptions of the social 

universe, and Hua Kok is indeed referred to in these terms. In contrast, the village is 

nameless and identified only by its number. Only in official situations do residents and 

those from adjacent settlements speak of "village no. 7". It is also relevant to note 

in this context that not all named localities are referred to in this manner. Dong 

Ya ng is the na me given to the southern end of Hua Kok, after a clump of yang trees, 

but it has no social identity of its own and so never merits the prefix ban. Overall 

then it must be seen as significant that a person's social identity is expre~ se d locally as 

a "Hua Kok person" (khan Hua Kok), or as member of the Hua Kok group, (phuak 

Hua Kok), and it is one's fellow residents who are neighbours, (phu'an ban). 

Two seemingly contradictory statements may thus be made, the first being that 

the activities of the inhabitants of the hamlet so overlap with those of others from 

elsewhere that Hua Kok in no way constitutes a corporate whole. On the other hand 

the local classification of groupings does suggest some kind of corporate identity, the 

source of which is as yet unspecified but clearly more than the consequence of physical 

proximity. One p o~s ible explanation of this is kinship, yet as with other activities, 

rela tions of kinship and affinity are in no way bounded by the limits of the settlement. 

Nevertheless it can be argued that the character and extent of the ties of kinsh ip 

combined with the effects of proximity do account for a greater degree of community 

identity than would otherwise be the case. What we initially need to know then is the 

role of kinship ideology in structuring social relations. 

Kinship 

Temple remains and other evidence indicate that in the Ayuthaya period the 

area supported a considerable population. 

This disappeared as a result of warfare or 

withdrawal to more defensible regions in the reigns of Taksin or Rama I (Damrong 

2504: 9). Perhaps a few remained or resettlement began again before the old bot at 

the temple in Wang Thong could fall into decay. Certainly it appears that captives 

taken in the war with Laos in 1827-28 were moved into the area. 

An unnamed couple


in Bang Saphan from whom people in forty of the forty-nine households2 in Hua Kok 

are directly descended, are reputed to have been Lao from Vientiane. Hua Kok itself 

was probably settled around the turn of the century; by about 1909 there were four or 

five houses, but even at this stage the surrounding land fit for paddies had been cleared 

by those remaining in Wang Thong and Bang Saphan. 

Except for an elderly Chinese and his family, everyone in Hua Kok has 

extensive ties of descent or affinity with fellow residents. Yet the exact implications 

of this are initially unclear, if only because everyone has extensive kin ties with people 

elsewhere. The fact that the earliest migrants chose to reside in Hua Kok from 

whence contact was more easily retained with kin in Bang Saphan, rather than move to 

Wang Phom or further south where their fields were, suggests the importance of 

kinship. Now lands are distributed over a far wider area facilitating interaction with 

other settlements, but the residents of Hua Kok remain more generally orientated 

towards Wang Khut and Bang Saphan than to Wang Phom, and this reflects the denser 

network of kin lmks with these places. 

Its size and the extent of pre-existing genealogical connections restrict the 

number of marriages within Hua Kok. Unions between kin are generally disapproved 

of and, although technically legal, first-cousin marriages are considered wrong and 

extremely unlucky. They are believed likely to result in the death of any children or 

even of the couple themselves owing to the withdrawal of the protection afforded by 

th'ewada. For those less closely related disapproval sometimes appears little more than 

a legitimate means of expressing objections rooted in more mundane matters. Nevertheless, 

intra-kin marriages never conform to the traditional ideal of being arranged 

by go-betweens and accompanied with feasting and merit-making, ostensibly because 

anyone asked to be a go-between would be too "shy" to suggest a union of kin. 

Despite these restrictions, the area within which mmt marriages are contracted 

is restricted, and there is an important degree of neighbourhood in-marriage. Out of 

forty-two unions in which at least one partner was from Hua Kok, twenty-four took 

place with people from the neighbourhood formed by Wang Phom (five), Hua Kok 

(five), Wang Khut (six), and Bang Saphan (eight). In all, twenty-nine unions were 

contracted within the district and thirty-two within the province. Seventeen men and 

twenty-nine women lived in Hua Kok prior to marriage, the combined figures for the 

four settlements being twenty-nine and thirty-six respectively. 

Residents are thus closely linked with the surrounding neighbourhood by a 

network of interpersonal ties established by marriage and subsequently reinforced by 

2. In late 1966 one of these household groups was residing with kin after selling its old house 

and prior to construction of a new one, hence the discrepancy between the figures for houses 

and household groups. ·

KINSHIP AND LOCALiTY IN HUA KOK 107 

the birth of children. Even so, marriage is not so much a matter of the alliance of 

family groups as one of individual choice. Marriages may be suggested by parents 

and carefully negotiated, but there are no great pressures to accept these proposals. 

Indeed, soundings through go-betweens appear doomed unless the couple reach some 

understanding beforehand. Registration at the district office in accordance with the 

law remains rare with local custom, which allows for polygyny, continuing to offer an 

adequate guarantee of marital rights and duties. 

Unions are established in a variety of ways which to some extent reflect the 

circumstances of the couple and a broader long-term pattern of change. With the 

traditional 'ideal' wedding, the phithi taeng ngan, go-betweens negotiate the match and 

the wedding rites are accompanied by feasting and merit-making on a large scale. 

This type of union is referred to locally as kh'q kan, "asking", but nowadays the most 

popular form of marriage is the elopement, tiim kan, which has become far more 

common in the past thirty years. A couple run away to the man's house for a few 

nights before returning to ask the girl's parents for forgiveness and their blessing. 

Other named forms of union include being caught spending the night with a girl in her 

home (khu'n ha), forcible seduction (chut kan), and living together without any ritual 

or payment (yu di ao kan choei choei). This last mentioned occurs when a couple are 

middle-aged or elderly and have been married previously. 

Unless one of the partners already has a house, a couple normally live initially 

as dependents in a parental household until their first child is born. The traditional 

norm is that initial residence be matrilocal, and deviations by people marrying for the 

first time can nearly always be explained by either the impossibility of matrilocal 

residence or there being some specific advantage in doing otherwise (cf. Kemp 1970). 

Couples eventually erect their own house, often but by no means necessarily, 

within the parental compound. However, one of the daughters and her spouse remain 

to care for the parents in their old age, the only recorded instance of a son doing this 

being that of an only child. Should the parents still be alive and all her sisters already 

married, the youngest daughter and her husband can expect to inherit the house and a 

possibly disproportionate amount of the other property. The likelihood of this 

occurring is reduced should elder sisters remain in the house; it had not happened or 

seemed very unlikely in the cases of a middle-aged woman who had refused to marry, 

a divorcee with children, and a woman with an illegitimate child. The incidence is 

further reduced by the death of parents before the marriage of younger children which 

results in the then resident couple taking over. 

Couples may move to and fro between parents for several years before settling. 

Residence decisions can be, and sometimes are, rescinded but the choice of initial


residence both reflects and affects a couple's economic prospects. Rights in inheritance 

are insecure unless reinforced by bonds of sentiment and mutual dependence. Eventual 

erection of a house in a parental compound can thus be interpreted as a statement of 

expectatiqns as well as one of ongoing interaction. Even should a husband and wife 

eventually inherit fields from their respective parents, utilization of both plots might 

well prove impossible because of the divergent locations. 

The move to a new house does signify an important change in social relations 

but is, nevertheless, only one stage in a far longer process. Even before marriage 

children may begin to accumulate their own resources: money earned is their own and 

does not have to be contributed to the household budget. Sim1larly a young couple 

may even start to farm of their own account, though it is also true that dependence or 

interdependence can persist well after the move to a separate house. One residentially 

independent couple continues to eat and farm jointly with a parental household, in 

another case all farming is jointly organized, and a degree of cooperation exists in a 

number of others. Such instances give some idea of the possible variations in the 

organization and performance of tasks by household members. 1 he frequent overlap 

between residential, productive, and consumption activities must not direct attention 

away from the exceptions which themselves are often structured responses to regular 

social processes in the development cycle of domestic groups, the distribution of 

resources, and accidents of demography. 

Despite such qualifications it is still useful when discussing household organization 

to take as its core the nuclear or elementary family around which the sometimes 

larger household gathers. The distinction though is an analytical one, villagers 

themselves refer to ban, house, ban diao kan, the same house and khr?bkhrua ("cover 

arrangement of the hearth", Sharp & Hanks 1978: 52). 1he latter word which is 

almost inevitably translated as "family" in fact contains no reference to any explicitly 

kin-based principle of association. 

Thirty-two of the forty-nine household groups contained only a couple with 

(at least some of) their children. The rest showed a variety of configurations; on a 

vertical axis these varied from two households with members from four generations to 

one of a widowed man and his young grand-daughter. Laterally, household size was 

increased by siblings of either spouse, children by former unions, and more distantly 

related kin like the grand-daughter of an elder half-sibling of the household head.3 

Overall, household size ranges from two to ten members with an average of five point 

seven persons per household. 

3. Such people however tend to remain only temporarily since they have no claim to the resources 

of the household other than to a share of any crops they have helped to produce.


Headship (huii na khr'9pkhrua) passes from the male founder (or successor) to 

his widow, and then to the senior male of the next generation who is usually an affine 

because of the norm of initial matrilocal marriage residence. Relinquishment of 

headship occasionally occurs when parents cease to play an active part in the management 

of domestic affairs and become dependents of the succeeding generation. 

Although children are expected to honour and respect their parents, support 

them in their old age, and help them generally (and likewise parents are expected to 

look after their children when young and rear them well), the mutual dependence of 

each of the other is limited. This is associated with considerable scope for choice in 

the interpretation of role norms between even close familial kin. In Hua Kok as 

elsewhere in rural central Thailand, kinship structure is in no way an exclusive 

framework for the allocation of scarce resources. Instead of claims for support or 

access being restricted to a carefully specified group. of people, one finds a wide spread 

of claims, the burden of which rests lightly upon each individual. Furthermore, such 

claims are unlikely to be effective unless reinforced by other personal ties or perceptions 

of self-interest 

Household membership is contractual except perhaps for young children. The 

rights of any family member are indeed ascribed by the ideology of kinship and exist 

independently of role performance, a son is always a son, but in practice his inheritance 

depends on the performance of his role as son to parental satisfaction. Equally, a 

son's decision to maintain close links with his natal home is in part determined by his 

parents performing their roles as parents (and having the resources to do so) with 

resultant benefits which are to be compared with the possible gains from pursuing 

alternative strategies elsewhere. 

It is the law in cases of intestacy as well as a local customary norm that all 

children inherit equally. Yet the owner of any wealth or property has the right to 

alienate it as he or she wishes. Variables such as position in the birth order, location 

of initial and subsequent marriage residence, relative availability of other sources of 

property, etc., all influence the manner in which parents allocate their belongings. 

The only practice which in normal circumstances is highly predictable is that the 

married child living with the parents at the time of their death will take over the 

house and its domestic equipment together with a significant share of the farm lands. 

A number of considerations are taken into account at the time of any division 

of rice and maize fields. Land may be, and frequently is, divided (baeng kan) before 

the death of both parents; if not the widow as head of the household might well be 

left to complete the process. The practice of allowing the use of fields to a child (hai

110 Jeremy H Kemp 

chai) without making an outright gift of it seems to be a long-established means of 

retaining parental authority and ensuring aid in times of need. Overall, the devolution 

of property is affected by a wide range of factors which all influence the way claims 

are pursue.d and recognized. 

Land is without any social value other than as a commodity. 

There is no 

virtue or social standing to be derived from cultivating or owning the same plot for 

several generations, nor is the hamlet so organized that the oldest families have higher 

prestige or greater access to political power. Obviously, the traditional abundance of 

land in the immediate or fairly near neighbourhood has played its part in the emergence 

of this situation which, of course, is now changing rapidly with the development of the 

cash economy and emergence of land scarcity. 

Over the past fifteen years, the tendency towards matrilocal and uxorilocal 

marriage residence, pre-existing links with settlements immediately to the north of 

Hua Kok, and the management of devolution according to the such practicalities as 

convenience of use, have all interacted to change the pattern of land holding. There 

has been a shift away from the original distribution of land holdings determined by 

the way in which the area was colonized as, with the passage of time, Hua Kok 

residents have inherited or purchased the land behind the settlement. In this respect 

at least one might see a possible strengthening of community identity. However, the 

process appears likely to be undermined in future by the shift from predominant 

owner-cultivation to a situation of an increasing concentration of ownership on the one 

hand and landlessness on the other. 

Just as the dynamics of kinship and locality have interacted in changing the 

original pattern of land-holding, so too they influence the whole pattern of settlement 

formation and growth. In the period of population growth before land became 

generally scarce, old settlements did not expand rapidly to become huge conglommerations. 

Instead, expansion was gradual in fits and starts as some people left for areas 

where unclaimed forest was more readily available. Given the workings of the domestic 

cycle it is likely that older children who tend to require land before parents are 

willing to divide, constituted a high proportion of those leaving in search of better 

opportunities elsewhere. What is easier to document though, is the part played by 

kin ties in the actual process of migration. 

The most common form of hamlet formation in the area seems to have been 

gradual settlement rather than a large scale move en bloc to a new area, with a few 

initial pioneers being joined over the years by others from their former hamlet. Kin 

ties, especially those between siblings, are frequently utilized in migration from one


place to another whether the move be associated with a search for land, breaking-up 

of a natal household in divorce, etc., or the practice of pai thiao whereby young men 

go visiting to distant settlements to enjoy themselves and possibly find a wife. 

In Hua Kok itself sibling links have often been the means of movement in and 

out of the hamlet. In the early days the headman's mother moved to join a younger 

brother in Hua Kok and cleared a housesite at the side of his. Another, originally 

from a village to the south, came to Wang Thong to stay with a married sister and 

while there met and married a girl who had moved from Bang Saphan to join an elder 

brother in Hua Kok when her parents died. More recently, a man who had gone to 

Sukhothai brought back a wife who was followed soon afterwards by two younger 

sisters who found it preferable to move because they did not get on with their stepmother. 

One of these girls has already married a Hua Kok man. Three brothers 

from Hua Kok, the first, third and fourth children in a family of seven, all married 

girls from other hamlets and initially resided matrilocally. Subsequently the two older 

brothers jointly bought a large area of forest in a small hamlet in the southern part of 

the district. For the time being they continue to farm together although maintaining 

separate households. The youngest brother who went with them was also able to buy 

land very cheaply which he works independently. 

Kinship and Locality 

Kinship and affinity constitute the most numerous and widely spread of all the 

sets of linkages joining Hua Kok residents to outsiders in addition to their high density 

within the hamlet itself. These links in themselves do not necessarily imply action, 

their importance lies in the fact that kinship provides an ideological charter for a wide 

range of social processes and transactions which may be classed as economic, familial, 

and so on, as is appropriate. The extent to which kinship permeates these varied 

areas of life has already been outlined. In this concluding section I intend to examine 

briefly both the values conveyed by this ideology and the way in which kinship interacts 

with the facts of locality to make Hua Kok a social unit rather than just a congeries 

of dwellings. 

When descent is traced bilaterally in a highly complex society as is Thailand, 

descent as a simple ordering principle seems to be of relatively little significance as a 

structural feature. In Hua Kok, and among Thai generally, the extent to which 

obligations are effectively ascribed by kinship is very limited even when genealogical 

ties are close. As shown in the preceeding pages, co-residence, property expectations, 

and personal compatability all considerably affect both the form and content of


parent-child relations, an obvious enough point but one sometimes lost in the social 

scientists' search for generalization. In the Thai system these factors are perhaps 

especially significant because the equal tracing of descent through both parents does 

not provide a single structural criterion for allocating and distributing resources. In 

these circumstances the use of kin terms is freed from many of the constraints imposed 

when their function in indicating jural roles is more pronounced. 

The Thai terminological system is well enough known not to reguire duplication 

here. What is usefully emphasized though is that, depending on the closeness of 

the linkage, age relative to Ego and Ego's parents is carefully distinguished. The way 

kin terms are used in Hua Kok suggests that a major function is distinguishing people 

as much by age as by genealogy. Kin terms which imply age differences clearly 

inappropriate to actual age are generally changed for ones more appropriate. Similarly, 

when kin terms are used ficticiously the forms chosen reflect the age differences of the 

participants fairly accurately. 

Clearly then, the use of kin terms, especially between non-kin, affirms the 

appropriateness of sentiments of warmth and proximity which are the ideal of kin 

relationships4 while at the same time spelling out that these are also relations of 

superiority and inferiority. They indicate who should defer to another, important in 

a society where much emphasis is placed on the view that respect is due to one's elders 

and superiors, and this is true even in the comparatively egalitarian setting of Hua Kok. 

In brief, kin terms reflect both the underlying morality of kinship with its emphasis on 

generalized reciprocity (cf. Kemp forthcoming), and local values about age and the 

sentiments ideally associated with kinship. Kin terms thus facilitate interpersonal 

relations, they offer their users a means of symbolically expressing major social values 

not in themselves necessarily derivable from biological connection albeit expressed in 

its idiom. 

Kinship is so pervasive in Hua Kok because it is the means of expressing all 

close, interpersonal relations, often regardless of actual genealogical connection. The 

absence of a clear jural dimension as found in some simpler societies with unilineal 

descent thus sets the scene for a far freer expression of some of the other dimensions of 

kinship ideology. At the same time, however, one must emphasize that the situation 

described in this paper is one in which the progressive socio-economic differentiation of 

villagers associated with the development of the market economy was still in its early 

stages. Hence the fact that villagers still made extensive use of reciprocal labour groups 

in their fields and relative absence of the division between poor and afHuent which has 

such a disruptive effect on traditional patterns of intra-communal intercourse: 

4. The point is reinforced by the use of terms indicating linkage through one's mother rather 

than father.


In the situation outlined above, kinship taken in conjunction with the interaction 

engendered by geographical proximity is the principal unifying factor in Hua Kok. 

It is the bonds arising from proximity and common interests strengthened by the moral 

ideology of kinship which create Hua Kok's identification as a community. Kinship 

alone cannot do this, everybody has many kin outside the hamlet, but in the absence of 

corporate interests the combination of locality with kinship forms the most important 

framework for the various types of activity which occur. In other words, these two 

features interact to create a social setting which facilitates and supports relations with 

others and makes Hua Kok a distinctive social unit for its residents and those in the 

neighbourhood. They also give it an analytical importance which is not revealed by 

the boundaries of administrative units, temple congregations, or any of the other criteria 

so often used to designate what units are worthy of study. 

Finally, there is the question of the quality of the relations involved in the 

development and maintenance of community life. The networks of interpersonal ties 

with which I have been concerned, although undoubtedly individually manipulated and 

managed are nonetheless structured by sets of commonly held values and expectations 

about one's duty to oneself and to others. In so far as any ideology is significant for, 

and can be used to explain action, the Buddhist notion of 'merit' has long been recognized 

as being of major importance; kinship is clearly another. 

Damrong, Prince 

Kemp, J.H. 1970 

forthcoming 

Pendleton, R.L. 1962 

Sharp, L. & Hanks, L. 1978 

Bibliography 

Ru'ang mu'ang Phitsanulok Published in a commemorative 

volume for Phun Saophajon. B.E. 2504, Bangkok. 

Initial marriage residence in rural Thailand. Tej 

Bunnag & M. Smithies (eds.) In Memoriam Phya 

Anuman Rajadhon T.he Siam Society, Bangkok. 

Kinship and the management of personal relations: 

kin terminologies and the axiom of amity. To appear 

in Bijdragen tot de Taa/-, Land- en Vo/kenkunde, 

v. 139, i. 

Thailand, Aspects of Landscape and Life American 

Geographical Society Handbook, New York. 

Bang Chan: Social History of a Rural Community in 

Thailand Cornell University Press, Ithaca & London.

THE RELEVANCE OF TELEPHONE DIRECTORIES TO A 

LINEAGE-BASED SOCIETY : A CONSIDERATION OF 

SOME MESSIANIC MYTHS AMONG THE HMONG 1 

NICHOLAS T APP* 

'Only beings who can reflect upon the fact th~t they are determined are 

capable of freeing themselves' De Freire 1970 

ABSTRACT: 

The following paper sets out to demonstrate that, as Levi-Strauss 

(1963) has put it, 'the purpose of myth is to provide a logical model 

capable of overcoming a contradiction (an impossible achievement if, 

as it happens, the contradiction is reaJ.2)" The contradiction is, in this 

instance, areal one, and by examining variant versions of a single 

Hmong myth which accounts for the lack of literacy and political 

autnomy among the Hmong, we find that, reduced to its simplest 

elements, the myth is concerned to overcome the felt contradiction 

between state and stateless society. We are then led to examine . 

Christian missionary influence as a catalytic influence on the emergence 

of this myth, and to consider its historical antecedants. According 

to Levi-Strauss (1969), 'history .•. can never completely divest 

itself of myth'. Equally it is true, as we see, that myth never quite 

succeeds in ridding itself of history. Finally I am led to query some 

of the assumptions which have been traditionally made concerning 

Hmong autonomy and ethnic exclusiveness, and to suggest that the 

same sort of analysis which has been applied to the study of 'subnuclear 

social systems' in Burma (cf. Lehman 1963) may be usefully 

applied to such groups as the Hmong. 

1. In what follows, I have used the term 'Hmong' to refer to the people of that name in Thailand, 

Vietnam and Laos, while I have used other terms such as "Miao' when referring to the work 

of other writers who have used such terms themselves. It should be clearly understood, 

however, that the term 'Hmong' or 'Mong' refers to the Western branch of a language family 

which also includes the Hmu and Xioob, which terms are cognate. The latter were referred 

to by the Chinese as respectively Hei Miao or Black Miao, and Hung Miao or Red Miao, 

while members of the former included the White, Green, and Flowery (Hua) Miao. 

2. According to Levi-Strauss ( 1969), 'we define the myth as consisting of all its versions' which, 

as he points out, has the merit of excluding the quest for the 'true' or 'earliest' version of the 

myth, much as occurred in early comparative linguistics. Consequently I have made no 

attempt at selection of an authentic version, but have rather concentrated on all the versions 

available in the published accounts, with no attempt to differentiate between them. I hope 

to prepare an exhaustive account of these in due course. 

* School of Oriental and African Studies, London. M.A. South-east Asian Studies, London. 

114


I 

Writing in 1947, Bernatzik claimed that 'The memory of times when there was 

a much larger political unit has been kept alive to this day among the Meau. Thus, 

tradition tells of a powerful kingdom of the Meau, an hereditary kingship, in which 

the king was at the same time the supreme war lord'. Bernatzik goes on to say that 

the last king (van tso') was defeated in battle against Chinese forces who were menacing 

their settlements, and then led his people southward in flight before the pursuing 

enemy. He concludes by declaring that 'Even today they believe that sometime and 

somewhere a Meau king will rise again, who will unite his people, gather them together, 

and lead them victoriously against the hated oppressors' (Bernatzik 1970), and 

quotes Savina to the following effect: 'The Meau are waiting for a liberator, a king, 

a phoa thay. As soon as the report of a phoa thay comes from somewhere, they immediately 

take up their weapons and set out to put themselves at his disposal. What 

we call a 'rebellion' they call oa phoa thay, 'to make a king'. The phrase Bernatzik's 

translation omits without apology, which follows Savina's first sentence above, is 'tout 

comme les Juifs, attendant un Messie' (Savina 1930). 

Geddes also has drawn parallels with Judaism when, speaking of the presence 

of people whom he considers 'culturally identifiable' with the Miao in Kweichow and 

neighbouring provinces some 1,000 years ago and 'possibly twice as long', he remarked 

that 'The preservation by the Miao of their ethnic identity for such a long time despite 

their being split into many small groups surrounded by different alien peoples and 

scattered over a vast geographical area is an outstanding record parallelling in some 

ways that of the Jews but more remarkable because they lacked the unifying forces of 

literacy and doctrinal religion and because the cultural features they preserved seem to 

be more numerous' (Geddes 1976). 

But indeed, the felt lack of literacy seems to have been a crucial element in the 

Hmong messianic movements which played such an important part in fashioning political 

decisions and forging cultural identity. Hence Lemoine : 'Frappes sans doute de 

!'importance accordee au document ecrit par !'administration chinoise, les Hmong 

revaient d'une ecriture tombee du ciel et qui leur serait propre. Ce theme revint 

constamment au cours des divers mouvements messianiques qui pendant des siecles ont 

tente a intervalles plus ou moins longs de secouer le joug chinoise et surtout d'etablir 

un 'royaume hmong' . . . . . . . Selon le mythe messianique un roi allait naitre ou 

etait iie pour rassembler les Hmong et les delivrer de la tutelle des autres peuples. Le roi 

ou son prophete ne manquais pas d'annoncer qu'il avait eu Ia revelation d'une ecriture. 

C'etait la marque meme de !'investiture par le Ciel'. The name of this mythical king 

is 'Foua Tai' (from the Chinese Houang Ti or Emperor) (Lemoine 1972a).

116 Nicholas Tapp 

Although accounts of the lost form of Miao writing differ, the essential elements 

remain the same. Geddes, for example, recounts that 'At. Pasamlien I was told 

by some of the people that long ago, when they were still in China, they had a book like 

the Chinese. But one day it got cooked up and was eaten by them with their rice' 

(Geddes 1976). Other accounts attribute its loss to the flight of the Hmong from 

invading Chinese, when it was dropped while crossing a river (cf. Hudspeth below) or, 

as in the following :fictionalized version of the tale by a recent missionary in northern 

Thailand; to other causes : 

'Why ever did those horses have to eat the books of our forefathers, 

many, many years ago? Those Meo kings were the first. there were 

in the whole great northern kingdom. Indeed in those days we had 

a land of our own. A Meo king ruled over us. We were the most 

powerful nation on earth. But the wicked Chinese were more cunning 

than we. They fell upon us in great hordes. They had better 

weapons than we had. We fought bitterly and courageously, but it 

was in vain. The Chinese knew no mercy. They murdered, enslaved 

and pillaged. We had to surrender. But not quite everyone gave 

in; whoever could escape did so. When the exhausted fugitives came 

to a wide river they rested, leaving their packs among the bushes. 

They were all overcome with sleep. When at last they woke up-0 

horror-the horses had eaten up the Meo books! Not a single one 

remained. Since then we have possessed neither books nor script. ..' 

After describing the passage of the Meo through a 'Lake' which closely parallels the 

Biblical account of the passage of the Jews through the Red Sea, the raconteur concluded, 

'Ever since that day we Meo have been sacrificing to the spirits and 

are pledged to them until our Fuatai comes again and destroys the 

spirits and all our enemies' ..... 'Until our Fuatai rises again and 

comes to help us' they all cried', adds the author (Scheuzger 1966). 

In this highly coloured and somewhat Kiplingesque version, we nevertheless see the 

clear connection between messianic beliefs and a myth about the lack of literacy which 

is linked to the ideal of a fallen kingdom. 

These motifs remain politically most important. Garrett reported that in the 

late 1950's, the Hmong of Laos, divided by the conflict between Pathet Lao and Lao 

Government forces, 'naturally looked to the spirit world for help. Messianic myths 

spread through the hills. One prophesied that Christ would come to the Hmong in a 

jeep, wearing American clothes and handing out weapons' (Garrett 1974). Lemoine


noted that the invention of a new script believed to be the lost Hmong writing formed 

the attraction of the messianic movement which began in Long Tien (Laos) in 1967 

(Lemoine 1972a). In the early 1960's reports of the birth of a new Hmong king drew 

large crowds of Hmong villagers to a remote valley in the north of Thailand (cf. Bertrais 

1978)3, while recently the Vietnamese Government accused the Chinese of spreading 

similar rumours of the birth of a Hmong king in southern China in order to alienate 

the Vietnamese Hmong (The Guardian, London, 9 Jan 1981). 

Twe points should perhaps be made here. 

Firstly, m the opinion of the 

present writer, it is useless to attempt historical reconstructions on the basis of such 

myths4 • We should, rather, be looking at what such a myth may be able to tell us 

about the society which possesses it. Richard Davis (1979) has drawn attention to the 

~urprising functionalism of Levi-Strauss's thesis that 'a myth can validate actual social 

practice by offering imaginary alternatives', and this is the line which shall be followed 

hereS. 

Thus a myth of the type 'Once we had a kingdom and a writing of our own, 

but owing to the Chinese we lost it' should be read as a conditional statement of the 

type 'If it hadn't been for the Chinese, we would have had a kingdom and a writing of 

our own'. The implied negative (absence of a state, absence of literacy) has disappeared 

from the mythological statement just as it does from the subordinate clause of 

the English conditional. We are dealing with a society deprived of a state formation 

and of literacy, and consciously aware of its deprivation. Secondly, in the absence of 

the possibility of a valid historical reconstruction, we may nevertheless inquire into the 

historical circumstances in which such a myth may have been expressed, and which 

may have provoked its emergence in such a powerful form. 

in the influence of missionary Christianity upon the Hmong. 

These, I believe lie largely 

3. In the Meo Handbook prepared by the Joint US- Thai Military Research and Development 

Center in 1969, it is declared that 'Present day insurgent recruiters have induced some Meo 

to go to Laos for training by promising to take them to see the 'King of the Meo'.' 

4. Nevertheless, the history of such movements is being reconstructed by people better qualified 

than myself to deal with the historical evidence, such as Father Y. Bertrais and the Miao-Yao 

Project team members of CEDRASEME in Paris. When this is assembled, it should be useful 

for our understanding of the persistence of such beliefs today in the analytical framework I 

have suggested. 

5. Similarly, Leach refers to 'Levi-Strauss's version of the Hegelian-Marxist dialectic in which 

the sacred elements of myth are shown to be factors which mediate contradictories'. As 

Levi-Strauss himself put it-, mythology, seen as an 'instrument for the suppression of time .... 

overcomes the contradiction between historical, enacted time, and a permanent constant' 

(Levi-Strauss 1969).


II 

It must be noted, however, that rebellions among the Hmong in China predated 

the influence of what Lemoine (1972b) has (in a literary context) termed 'une contamination 

biblique' by many centuries. The earliest references to the 'San-Miao' in 

Chinese records categorize them as a rebellious people banished from the central plains 

of China before the second millenium B.C .. 6 In A.D. 47 a suppression campaign 

mounted against the Miao of West Hunan was followed by other suppression campaigns 

which hastened their migration southwards, according to Wiens (1954). The Miao 

mounted a northwards invasion during the 5th and 6th centuries, and again during the 

3 Kingdoms period following the Han period. In Wiens' words, 'Between A.D. 403 

and 561 there were more than 40 instances of Miao uprisings between the Yang-tzu 

and Yellow Rivers'. During the 5 Dynasties period (A.D. 907 -960) Ma Yin, the self-: 

proclaimed ruler of the new state of Ch'u, subjugated the Miao, who had declared 

their independence. 

According to Wiens, 'There was hardly any time during the 

Ming and Ch'ing periods when suppression or pacification campaigns were not being 

undertaken against the Miao and the Yao. In the major suppression campaigns in the 

upaisings of 1698, 1732, 1794, and 1855, the Miao scattered in all directions, initiating 

the migratory movements of the modern period' (Wiens 1954). As McCoy (1973) put 

it, 'trouble descended on the Meo tribes after the Manchu dynasty was established in 

1644'. After the failure of attempts to integrate the Miao into the regular bureaucracy, 

'the Manchus began to exterminate these troublesome tribes and to repopulate their 

lands with the more pliable ethnic Chinese. 

After a two hundred year extermination 

campaign culminated in a series of bloody massacres in the mid-nineteen~h 

thousands of Meo tribesmen fled southwards towards Indochina' (McCoy 1973). 

century, 

Dealing with the great Miao uprisings in 1734-1737 and 1795-1806 in the 

province of Gui Zhou, Claudine Lombard-Salmon (1972) quotes the Sheng Wu ji: 

'Nombreux 1es Miao qui tuerent eux-memes leurs femmes et leurs enfants, pour ensuite 

affronter les armees imperiales et opposer une resistance acharnee' (Sheng Wu ji 7 in 

Lombard-Salmon 1972 p. 237). The repression of this first uprising of the Gui Zhou 

6. I here follow Lehman's ( 1979) important distinction of the usage of an ethnic category from 

the 'genetic-linguistic' groupings to which it may at different times refer. The real issue is 

the persistence of an ethnic category such as 'Miao' in a given ecological niche to refer to a 

particular kind of people, and its continuing application to a people who today resent its 

derogatory implications. The way in which the term was used indiscriminately in the past 

by Han Chinese is identical to the way in which the term 'Meo' is used to refer to such other 

groups as the Karen (cf. Kunstadter 1979).


Miao and the savage reprisals following the second, did not however prevent further 

rebellions : in 1801 40 villages rese up, and in 1802 a Miao chief proclaimed himself 

'Roi du ciel' (lien wang ].;,__f), and led a further rebellion. 18,000 Miao warriors 

were massacred after the 1735 revolt, while the 1795 uprising against the introduction 

of Han Chinese tenant farmers by Han overlords resulted in the destruction and burning 

of thousands of Chinese homes. Pere Amyot, a Jesuit missionary resident at Beijing 

during the 18th. century, has left us an account of the 1763 campaign against two 

small Miao principalities in Sichuan which ended in the slaughter of the ruler and his 

whole family after they were invited to the capital (Savina 1930). 20,000 Imperial 

troops were required to quell the last great rebellion of the Miao in Gui Zhou of 1856, 

which took place during the Panthay Rebellion of the Chinese Moslems in Yunan. 

Miao insurrections during the Qing (Manchu) period, were in large part the 

result of the forcible imposition of Han Chinese military officials on the tu-si or local 

official system of indirect rule practised by the Chinese authorities in the southern 

provinces (viz Hill 1980). Under this system, first formalised during the Ming dynasty 

(1368-1644), local chiefs had been enfeoffed to rule their peoples from the Chinese 

court. Office was hereditary, and usually patrilineally inherited. The tu-si system 

had emerged from the more informal system of local enfeoffment established by military 

garrisons set up after the Mongol conquest of Yunnan in 1253 during the Yuan dynasty 

(1280-1367). The tu-si system left indelible impressions of Chinese social organization 

on the customs of many of the local people, and may have been partly responsible for 

the superimposition of Han patrilineal characteristics on the original kinship structure 

of the Miao (Ruey Yih-Fu 1960). It may also have been responsible for the emergence 

of quasi-independent Miao chiefdoms, the memory of which survives in mythological 

form today (cf. Shryock 1934 for an account of these rich Miao clans) and, in its later 

form, for the upsurge of rebellions documented from the 18 century onwards. 

To take this general consideration of their rebellions into the present century, 

in 1919 the Pachai Revolt of the Hmong against the French in Laos, dubbed the Guerre 

du Fou and closely connected to messianic beliefs and promises of an end to economic 

exploitation, took the authorities two full years to suppress, while their most recent 

insurrection in Thailand from 1967 to 1971 necessitated the joint operations of the 

Thai and Laotian Armies and the establishment of five major refugee centres in the 

northern provinces. Meanwhile the resistance of the Hmong in Laos to the Pathet Lao 

continues. From this and other evidence we may conclude that real social pressures, 

arising from the contradiction between a state and a tribal form of social organization, 

were responsible for the rebellious propensities to which the ethnic category 'Miao' was,


and still is, considered appropriate. The Miao, in common with many other peoples 

of the area, were classified according to relative acculturation by the Chinese as sheng 

raw, wild, uncivilized or unsinicised, or shu (cooked, tax-paying, Chinese-speaking, 

'civilized'), which suggests that the opposition became internalized in their own form 

of social organization as tendencies towards autocratic rule emerged. It was in this 

form that Christianity found it. 

III 

Although Jesuit missionaries were reportedly in contact with the Hmong as 

early as 1736 in Gui Zhou, the first Protestant encounter only began with the work of 

the China Inland Mission in 1896. Samuel Pollard, who introduced the first romanized 

script for the Miao language, described the surprising impact of the Christian Gospel 

on the Miao at that time in the following words : 'Some days they came in tens and 

twenties! Some days in sixties and seventies! Then came a hundred! Then came two 

hundred! Three hundred! Four hundred! At last, on one special occasion, a thousand 

of these mountain men came in one day! When they came, the snow was on the ground, 

and terrible had been the snow on the hills they crossed over. What a great crowd it 

was!' (Pollard 1919). 

'Picture these early scouts as they journey' adds Hudspeth (1937), Pollard's 

colleague and pupil. 'Each carries a felt cape which in the daytime serves as an overcoat 

and at night as a blanket, and every one has a bag of oatmeal, a basin and chopsticks 

or a wooden spoon; the oatmeal mixed with water serves as breakfast, lunch and evening 

meal'. Pollard describes the degraded and impoverished position of the Miao at the 

hands of unscrupulous Chinese and Norsu landlords, and how 'The great demand these 

crowds made was for books' (my emphasis). He describes how it was whispered that 

the Miao meditated rebellion and massacre, how rumours arose that the foreigners 

were supplying the Miao with bags of poison with which the waters of the Chinese and 

Norsu were being contaminated: 'Before the Miao had been coming many months, a 

most dangerous situation was created, which might at any time have ended in a great 

massacre. As it was', he adds glibly, 'a number of people lost their lives'. 'Nearly 

every day came stories of Miao being driven away from the markets, of men and even 

women being beaten, of murderous attacks, and chained prisoners' (Pollard 1919). In 

effect, the introduction of missionary teachings to a people already marginal in relation 

to their lowland neighbours increased their marginalised position and widened the gap 

between Miao and Chinese. 

Finally Pollard reported that 'We were troubled yet in another way. By some 

means or other the rumour went abroad that Jesus was coming again very soon. Instead


of the teachings of the Second Coming proving a blessing to these simple people, the 

way in which it was stated by some irresponsible and ignorant people led to disastrous 

results. Some of the old wizards, and some of the singing women tried the role of 

prophet, and several dates were announced for the appearance of Christ. So firmly 

did some of. the people believe these prophecies, that they neglected their farm work 

and gave themselves up to singing and waiting for Jesus. One party betook themselves 

to a loft, and with lighted lamps or torches stayed up all night, expecting the King every 

moment. Poor, simple people, one cannot even smile at their misled enthusiasm. They 

had known the bitterness and degradation of heathenism so long, that one cannot 

wonder at their hoping for a short cut to the Millenium, when all wrongs would be 

righted and everybody have a chance'.7 

Pollard notes that intense excitement was caused by the question of brideprice: 

'With the coming of the New Testament many of the people wished to get rid of the 

old crushing burden'. Membership of the Church eventually gave the Miao a privileged 

status, and a Norsu landlord is quoted as saying that nobody now dared molest the 

Miao as they had formerly done. Pollard also mentions difficulties in translating the 

word 'kingdom' in the Lord's Prayer into Miao : 'None of the Miao ever remembered 

a time when they had a kingdom, and noone knew the Miao word for such an idea'. 

Hudspeth too described the mass conversion of the Miao by Pollard, who was said to be 

able to see three feet into the earth and drop magical water into Miao mouths which 

instantly converted them. Clearly the sudden adoption of a millenarian Christianity 

arose from the economically desperate position into which the Miao were forced 

following the failure of their various rebellions. 

IV 

Of course, this is only one example of missionary work among the Hmong, and 

many others could be cited for other Hmong divisions, which space precludes. But 

there is reason to believe that the influence of the China Inland Mission was not confined 

to the 'Hua' Miao of Gui Zhou, and that redemption work undertaken elsewhere, 

for example by Catholic missions in Laos, or by missionary work in Thailand, which still 

7. Compare this to Smalley (1956) who observed that 'For years the Christian witness made no 

impression on the Meo. Then suddenly, in the space of a month in 1949 about a thousand 

converts were made. Today there are several thousand Meo Christians. Furthermore, 

occasionally, 'prophets' declare themselves to be Jesus. So far none of these splinter movements 

have become widespread, but they are symptomatic of the fact that the Meo are 

undergoing a period of cultural reformulation which was triggered and given its particular 

form by the Christian gospel'.


continues, has not essentially differed in the long·term reactions it has provoked.8 

And in almost every case the result of such work has been to lend ideological support 

to an essentially sociopolitical form of alienation. Thus the economic marginalisation 

of an upland minority of shifting cultivators with a long history of persecution and 

extortion at the hands of local landlords from literate lowland state traditions; has been 

legitimated in terms of an ideology which has rationatised such a history of persecution 

in terms of, and by reference to, Judaeo·Christian motifs. This shows considerable 

similarities to trends reported from elsewhere, as I show below. 

There can be no doubt that this process continues today. Cooper (1976) for 

example reports on the adoption of Christianity by emergent poor strata of Hmong 

society relieving them of the necessity to invest in ritual status (such as bridewealth) 

demanded by kinship obligations. These Christians of Khun Sa were, according to 

Cooper, 'attracted by the saviour aspects of their new religion and expect a supreme 

force to intervene in the believer's favour'. Rather than opening the way, therefore, 

for the greater integration into Thai society or economic innovations demanded by 

internationally funded development programmes, the adoption of a messianic form of 

Christianity seems to increase the belief in an ideal past and an ideal future which 

allows present structural contradictions to persist unchanged. 

I now quote Hudspeth at some length to illustrate this process and the appeal 

which certain forms of Christianity makes to ethnic separatism : 'Before the Pollard 

script, books and a library were unknown. The great majority of these tribesmen had 

never handled even a sheet of writing paper or a pen. They had heard that once upon 

a time there were books; a tribal legend described how long, long ago the Miao lived 

on the north side of the Yangtze River, but the conquering Chinese came and drove 

them from their land and homes. Coming to the river and possessing no boats they 

debated what should be done with the books and in the end they strapped them to their 

shoulders and swam across, but the water ran so swiftly and the river was so wide, 

that the books were washed away and fishes swallowed them. This was the story. When 

the British and Foreign Bible Society sent the first Gospels and these were distributed 

8. Father Bertrais, for instance, refers to the frequency with which individuals are invested with 

the mission of embodying the personality of an imminent Huab Tais to whom he speaks in 

trance, affirming that they generallv appear 'at moments of crisis, when the general discon· 

tents or miseries create a psychosis of revolt or aspirations for a better life', often demanding 

the throwing away of money or cessation of planting 'because next year's grain of rice 

will turn itself into a granary of rice'. From 1957 onwards, Bertrais had 'heard talk 

about this constantly' : in Sam Neua on the Pha Thong mountain near Luang Prabang : 

during the 1960's on the mountainous Thai-Lao border: and currently in the mountains 

near Phu Bia (Laos) and the refugee camps in Thailand (Bertrais 1978).


the legend grew-the once upon a time lost books had been found, found in the white 

man's country, and they told the incomparable story that Jesus loved the Miao. 

Only the imagination can conceive what this meant to those hillmen; some of them 

travelled for days to view the books' (Hudspeth 1937). 

This account, the verisimilitude of which there is no more reason to doubt than 

there is to doubt Pollard's account of his difficulties in translating the word for 'kingdom' 

(although a Chinese word may have been used) clearly illustrates the various 

factors involved. Is it possible that Christian teachings of a kingdom and a chosen 

people of the Book should have so meshed with indigenous Hmong rationalisations of 

an illiterate, deprived and marginal state, as to have falsely inflated the latter by 

uniting the Judaic notion of a kingdom with the Hmong notion of writing in the form 

of the Messianic beliefs reported by Lemoine for the Hmong of Laos today? Given the 

similarity of this process with that reported for other minorities of the region, it seems 

quite likely. 

Keyes's summarization for the Karen is a case in point. After describing the 

Karen myth of creation, Keyes describes how 'Y' wa is said to have given books to his 

various children, sometimes said to number seven, who are the ancestors of the major 

ethnic groups in the world known to the Karen, This gift of a book was, of course, 

the gift of literacy. The Karen, however, are negligent with the book given to them 

and it is eaten by animals or, in some versions, consumed in the fires built by the Karen 

in the course of tilling their fields. Y'wa offers the Karen the consolation that at some 

future date, 'foreign brothers' will bring the gift of literacy-in the form of a golden 

book-back to thein. These two myths greatly impressed the American Baptist missionaries 

who began work among the Karens in the early part of the 19th. century. 

The first story so paralleled the Biblical story of the Garden of Eden, including the fact 

that the name Y'wa was very similar to the Hebrew Yaweh, that the missionaries 

concluded that the Karen must be descendants of one of the lost tribes of Israel. Moreover, 

they quickly presented themselves as the foreign brothers bringing the Karens 

the golden book. The fact that missionaries were the first to record these myths has 

led to their interpretations colouring the understanding of them ever since' (Keyes 

1979).9 It seems that a similar process occurred with the Hmong, who show similarly 

ambivalent attitudes towards the acquisition of literacy skills as do the Karen (compare 

Geddes 1976 p. 20 with Marlowe, in Keyes 1979, p. 172). It has been missionaries 

who have been largely responsible for the various scripts invented for the Hmong 

languages (Pollard himself being the first), and there is no doubt that this has carried 

enormous appeal to a people possessed of an oral tradition. 

9. See also Anthony Walker, for example, discussing the priest-led Lahu rebellions against 

Imperial Chinese rule in the 18th and 19th centuries, who points out how the white missionaries 

were originally welcomed as the fulfillment of a prophecy (Walker 1974).


Beliefs in a past state structure and a lost literacy, at first blush odd in a society 

of closely knit shifting cultivators, are clearly linked in other cases besides the 

Hmong.l o It seems clear that such beliefs express particular orientations towards 

majority or 'host' populations which, when combined with the appropriate legitimating 

supernatural symbols, can coalesce into millenarian and messianic movements in 

concrete political shape. Such movements, as Burridge has remarked, whether they are 

syncretic or nativistic, represent a transitional stage for subsistence economies adjusting 

to a cash economy, and his hypothesis that 'The redemptive process, and so redemption, 

bears significantly on the politico-economic process, particularly the prestige system' 

(Burridge 1971) is amply confirmed in the context of the data presented above. 

v 

If this is so, we may then be forced to reconsider some of the basic assumptions 

which have been made in the past about the distinctive and exclusive nature of Hmong 

ethnicity, which may prove more amenable to the sort of approach adumbrated by 

Lehman for the study of 'subnuclear social systems' (Lehman 1967) than has hitherto 

been thought, particularly since what isolation there was is now largely a matter of the 

past. On the basis of different migration patterns and the relative absence of transcultural 

movement among high-altitude swiddeners such as the Hmong, Yao, Akha, 

Lahu and Lisu, Hinton (1969) for example noted that 'Researchers in the latter societies 

tend to note the homogeneity and relative isolation of these peoples' by contrast with 

'the concern of students of changing cultural identity with such peoples as the Thai, 

Karen, Lua', Thai-Lue and Shans'. However, recent research (e.g. Alting 1982) has 

shown that such homogeneity and relative isolation may be the result of quite recent 

historical conditions and that inter-ethnic relations in the past were far more extensive 

than has been supposed. It is at least probable for the Hmong that the strong sense 

of ethnic identity noted by many ethnographers has been at least in part a response 

to quite recent circumstances, including the influence of missionary Christianity in 

promoting traditional inter-ethnic hostilities and mistrust, and fostering a notion of 

sociocultural specificity essentially derived from Western models. The clear awareness 

of the lack of literacy and state formation, as evinced in legends which are part of an 

10. 'The Akha mention two periods in their history in which they had warlords (generals) and, 

later, chiefs or kings .... associated with walled cities ... During the time of the third ruler, the 

power to rule, although thought of as reified for all time, was either lost or burned, the art 

of writing disappeared, books were eaten, and because of pressure from the Chinese and 

Shan, one after another of the clans had to seek refuge in the mountains' (Aiting 1982). 

Graham (1954) mentions that the 'legend of a lost book' which in his account is linked with 

Buddhist scriptures and has nothing to do with a state or kingdom, was also found among 

the Ch'iang of West Sichuan and the tribes of Burma.


extremely ancient oral tradition, as with the Karen, Akha and even Kachinll, would 

certainly seem to point towards long historical contacts with lowland state based 

civilizations. Not only the social scientist (cf. Lehman 1966) but also the missionary, 

then, has lent a spurious validity to local differentia by sanctioning what Leach (1961) 

defined as the third level of social reality-the folk model. As Lehman pointed out in 

1966, such formal models of what seems an increasingly fluid and flexible ethnic situation 

must be employed with great caution to avoid fostering arbitrary and undiscriminating 

administrative approaches to the problems of ethnic minorities. The present 

day isolation of the Hmong, then, may be seen as a dynamic form of 'retribalization'; 

a revitalism similar to that described by Cohen (1969), in the face of increasingly 

insurmountable political and economic uncertainty. 

The term 'Miao', therefore, should be regarded as the blanket term for the 

minorities of southern China it so often was, much as the extension of the term 'Meo' 

has been loosely used to apply to the Karen today (Keyes 1979), and the 'Hmong' 

should be regarded as having evolved out of a complex polyethnic situation in southern 

China which also involved the Chung Chia, Lolo, Yunnanese, and many others (cf. 

Grandstaff 1979), accelerated, in the case of the Hmong, by the effects of missionary 

Christianity.' 2 The logical outcome to this process of successive marginalisation and 

peripheralisation of the Hmong from the centres of power would seem to be the current 

diaspora of refugee Hmong from Laos to the four corners of the earth under the 

auspices of the UNHCR programmes, where, I am told, a people with still a predominantly 

oral tradition communicate with relatives in other parts of the globe by cassette 

recorder and urgently desire telephones, so that lineage names can be entered in telephone 

directories and traditional lineage hospitality practiced on a global scale. Here 

we see how a long process of historical marginalisation, when rationalised in terms of 

a myth which projects the possibilities of participation in a state formation into an 

idealised past and future, can serve to disguise real structural contradictions between 

democratic, autocratic, and stately forms of social organisation, and sustain a remarkably 

homogeneous and resilient ethnic community.J3 

11. For example, Gilhodes (1908) on the Kachin: 'Ning kong wa convoque tousles hommes en 

son palais du milieu de la terre. Aux Chinois, Shans, Birman, Kalas, il distribue Ia science 

dans des livres. Mais c'est sur des parchemins qu'illa donne au Katchins. Ceux-ci, ·presses 

par Ia faim en rentrant chez eux, les rotissent et les devorent; depuis lors ils ont toutes leurs 

connaissances dans le ventre, tandis que les autres peuples les possedent sur du papier'. 

12. See, for example, Shiratori's (1966) claim that 'the Miao are not a homogenous ethnic group' 

and that 'the recent Miao represent a widely distributed complex of originally different 

ethnic groups'. 

13. This study is the result of ltbrary research undertaken at the School of Oriental and African 

Studies in London from 1980-1981 for which assistance was received from the Social Science 

Research Council, and is not based on fieldwork undertaken among the White Hmong of 

Northern Thailand since then.

126 

Nicholas Tapp 

Bernatzik H.A. 

Bertrais Y 

Burridge K 

Cohen A 

Cooper R 

Davis R 

Garrett W 

Geddes W 

GILHODES C 

Graham D 

Grandstaff T 

Hill A 

Hinton P 

Hudspeth W 

Keyes C 

Kunstadter P ed. et a1 : 

Leach E 

Lehman F 

Lemoine J 

Levi-Strauss C 

Lombard-Salmon C 

McCoy A 

Pollard S 

Ruey Yih-Fu 

REFERENCES 

Akha and Miao, Problems of Applied Ethnography in Further India (trans. 

HRAF, New Haven 1970). 

The Traditional Marriage Among the While Hmong of Thailand and Laos 

(Paris 1978) 

New Heaven, New Earth (London 1971) 

Custom and Politics in Urban Africa (1969) 

Resource Scarcity and the H'mong Response, unpub. PhD thesis, Univ. 

Hull 1976. 

'Tolerance and Intolerance of Ambiguity in Northern Thai Myth and 

Ritual' Ethnology Xlll 1974. 

'The Hmong of Laos : No Place To Run' National Geographic Magazine 

CXLV 1 1974. 

Migrants of the Mountains (london 1976) 

'Mythologie et Religion des Katchins (Birmanie)' Anthropos 3 1908. 

Songs and Stories of the Ch'uan Miao (Washington 1954) 

'The Hmong, Opium and the Haw' JSS 67 2 1979. 

'Caravan Transport and Chinese Frontier Communities in the China/ 

Southeast Asia Uplands', paper prepared for 6th Oklahoma Symposium 

on Comparative Frontiers, March 20-21, 1980. 

Tribesmen and Peasants in North Thailand (Chiangmai 1969) 

Stone Gateway and the Flowery Miao (London 1937). 

The Golden Peninsula (Ithaca 1979). 

Ethnic Adaptation and Identity (Philadelphia 1979). 

Farmers in the Forest (Honolulu 1978). 

'Jinghpaw Kinship Terminology' Rethinking Anthropology (London 1961) 

'Anthropological Aspects of Language' New Directions in the Study of 

Language (ed. Lennenberg, MIT 1964). 

The Structure of Chin Society (111inois 1963). 

'Ethnic Categories in Burma and the Theory of Social Systems', Southeast 

Asian Tribes, Minorities and Nations ed. Kunstadter (Princeton 1966). 

'Kayah Society', Contemporary Change in Traditional Societies ed. Steward 

(Illinois 1967). 

'Who Are the Karen, and If So, Why?' Ethnic Adaptation and Identity, 

ed. Keyes (1979). 

'Les ecritures du Hmong' Bulletin des Amis du Royaume Lao 7-8 1972a 

'L'initiation du mort chez les Hmong' L'Homme 12 1972b. 

'The Structural Study of Myth' Structural Anthropology 1 1963. 

'Un Exemp1e d'accu1turation Chinoise' BEFEO LXXXIV 1972. 

The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia (Harper & Row 1973). 

The Story of the Miao (London 1919). 

'The Magpie Miao of Southern Szechuan' Social Structure in Southeast 

Asia. ed. Murdock (Chicago 1960).


Savina F 

Histoire des Miao (Hong Kong 1930). 

Scheuzger 0 

The New Trail: Among the Tribes in North Thailand (Chiangmai 1966). 

Shryock J 

'Ch'en Ting's Account of the Marriage Customs of the Chiefs of Yunnan 

and Kweichow' American Anthropologist 36 1934. 

Smalley W 

'The Gospel and the Cultures of Laos' Readings in Missionary Anthropology 

3 1956. 

Von Gesau, L. A1ting : 'The Dialectics of Akhazan: Interiorizations of a Minority Group' 

The Highlanders of Thailand, ed. J. McKinnon (Kuala Lumpur 1982). 

Walker A 

Wiens H 

Yoshiro Shiratori 

'Messianic Movements Among the Lahu of the Young-l~dochina Borderlands' 

Southeast Asia III 2 1974. 

China's March Into the Tropics (Shoestring Press 1954; rev. ed. 1970). 

'Ethnic Configurations in Southern China' Tokyo 1966. 

(De Freire, Paulo 

Cultural Action For Freedom, Harvard Educational Review and Center 

for the Study of Development and Change, Monograph Series No. 1, 

1970).

NOTES 

NOTES ON A LETTER FROM PRINCE MONGKUT 

TO DR. S.R. HOUSE 

RONALD D. RENARD & HERBERT R. SWANSON* 

Among the records of the American Presbyterian Mission in Thailand which 

are housed at the Manuscript Division of Payap College there has come to light a 

holograph letter written by "T.Y. Chaufa Mongkut" to "Mr. House, M.D.,"! undated 

except that it was written on a Monday morning. Mentioned in George Haws Feltus' 

biography of Dr. House,2 an American Presbyterian medical missionary to Thailand, 

this letter provides insights into the important relationship between Prince Mongkut 

and the American missionaries in 19th century Thailand. The purpose of these notes 

is to provide a brief study of the text of this letter and to comment on the letter's 

historical significance. 

Analysis of the Text 

Prince Mongkut preferred his English-language correspondents to call him 

"T.Y. Chaufa Mongkut".3 

In a letter to Mr. G.W. Eddy dated July 14, 1848, Prince 

Mongkut wrote that in Thailand his inferiors or dependants referred to him as "Thun 

Kramom Fa Yai" ('tn'lfl'l"ZVI~mJ~1lVI~) 

., 

dent to him called him "Chau Fa Yai" (Li'1~1LVI~). 

and that those nominally superior or not depen- 

Prince Mongkut then wrote that 

"I prefer that my friends, when they write me letters, or send parcels to me, will use 

this name Chau Fa Mongkut with the letters 'T.Y.' short for Thun Yai prefixed as 

being that by which I am known in the Laws and Public Documents of Siam." Prince 

Mongkut of course gave up being called T.Y. Chau Fa Mongkut upon becoming King, 

when he often signed his letters as "Somdetch Phra Paramendr Maha Mongkut,'' 

(tUIL~'Il..,'l"Z1hL:IJ'I.I.'Yl'i:IJV11lh1fli]) 

• 

which he sometimes abbreviated to "S.P.P.M. Mongkut.'' 

Prince Mongkut worte this letter while he was staying at Wat Thong, Bangkok 

Noi, in Thonburi. This temple, on the north bank of the Bang Phrom Canal in Taling 

Chan District, would later be renamed Wat Kanchanasinghat (1uilfl1qj'il'l.l.ff"VI1t'{U) in 

1854 by Mongkut, after he had become King. 4 Prince Mongkut stayed at this temple 

* Dr. Renard teaches history and works in the Research and Community Development Center of 

Payap College. Mr. Swanson is the Head of the Manuscript Division of Payap College and 

Archivist of the Church of Christ in Thailand. 

128

NOTES 129 

A 

while attending the funeral of the mother of Prince Poramanuchit Chinorot (m3J'I/I3J'U 

U13J1'U'ifli1wn'l), referred to in the letter as "Krommanujit." Prince Poramanuchit 

• 

Chinorot was a noted author and scholar of Pali, writing and translating numerous 

religious and historical texts. He held the rank of Kromaml!n (m3J'III~U), denoting a 

Prince of the fifth official rank for princes, just below a Kromakhun (mllonu) and 

• 

"Krommanujit" was a colloquial shortening of his title and name. King Mongkut was 

to name Prince Poramanuchit Chinorot the Lord Patriarch («n~3J'III1i~·.ll1l1u1Un) in 1851 

and, even though the Jetter refers to him as "highest Priest Prince," he did not yet 

actually hold the position of Lord Patriach when Mongkut was Prince and this letter 

was written. The office of Lord Patriarch was vacant from 1849 until 1851 and that 

Prince Mongkut called him "highest Priest Prince" most likely indicated unofficial 

acceptance of Prince Poramanuchit Chinorot as Lord Patriarch. 

Although most details regarding this letter can be explained, precise dating 

has been impossible. The earliest this letter could have been written is 1847, which is 

when House arrived in Thailand. The latest is 1851, when Prince Mongkut became 

King. Prince Mongkut almost surely wrote this letter after 1849, when the position of 

Lord Patriarch became vacant since Mongkut would not have referred to Prince 

Poramanuchit Chinorot as "highest Priest Prince" if someone else was the Lord 

Patriarch. Similarly it is quite unlikely that Dr. House, a newcomer to Thailand, 

would have received this letter on behalf of the other American missionaries at a time 

when the Rev. Jesse Caswell was still alive. Caswell was on very close terms with 

Prince Mongkut and did not die until September 1848. 

Additional clues to the precise date appear in the note which House wrote at 

the bottom of the letter, requesting that Mongkut's words not get into print. This 

request most likely reflects House's wish not to embarrass Mongkut at a time of official 

pressure on the mission and its press in 1850. In a letter of October 8, 1850, the 

missionary, Samuel Matoon, mentioned "Government persecution of Mission teacher's".5 

Another American missionary, D.B. Bradley, noted in 1850 that King Rama 

III, alarmed that the missionaries were converting too many Buddhists to Christianity, 

had arrested all the Thai colporteurs.6 Matoon added that employees and teachers of 

the mission had been "cast into the royal prison" on suspicion of the mission having 

printed the laws of the country.? 

The weight of the circumstantial evidence thus strongly suggests a date of 1850 

or early 1851. Furthermore, the tone of House's note, which is that of a person who 

has more than a newcomer's knowledge of Thailand, makes such a dating likely since 

it is improbable that House could have written such a note during his first year or two

130 Ronald D. Renard & Herbert R. Swanson 

in the country. In any case, as House's note indicates, the invitation was apparently 

not in time and neither House nor his fellow missionaries discussed religion with the 

assembled monks. 

Two other items regarding this letter merit special mention. First, Captain 

Brown is almost certainly the individual Vella described as "an American merchant" in 

his biography of King Rama III. 8 Second, the custom of throwing "limons" (limes) at 

cremations is still a popular custom in rural central Thailand. After the cremation 

fire is lighted, individuals standing at the four corners of the funeral pyre place money 

in the limes and throw them to the crowd as a means for making merit. Placing the 

coins in fruit is probably a safety measure. 

Dear Sir 

Transcript 

wat thong Monday 

morning 

I am now at the "Wat thong Bangkok noi" with my Uncle & teacher highest Priest 

Prince "Krommanujit-" who is rendering funiral offering of his mother two days ago. 

the highest Priest and his peels (peers ?] several princes desire to communicate with 

English for be strangers in festival as they have heard that the English strangers accustomed 

to be called on festival of me before. Therefore they petitioned me to write 

invitation to Captn Brown & Missionaries to be called at Wat thong today evening 

before 7 o'clock to be attained the time of fire work which will be pleasent. and they 

wish to give glad riward (money put in limon fruit) to you who arrived their festival 

by Siamese custom and feed you with any padable food. Will you please to accept 

their invitation ? I think that all or a few or but one of your missionaries must come. 

I think they will be glad. You also can distribute your book to several high head 

priests of various Wats because many of them will be assembled here on that time I can 

introduce you to let them listen you preaching your religious subject too. Please 

answer to me firstly if you will not exicute this invitation. I shall inform to them to 

assemble for your visitation and hear you teach them or accept your books 

your [s] truly 

T.Y. Chaufa 

Mongkut

P.S. 

Please inform to other missionaries 

by meant of this letter. 

NOTES 131 

This note though addressed to me, was of course intended for all the Missionaries. The 

invitation to discourse upon Christianity before the assembled head-priests of various 

wats-may pass a specimen of oriental compliment-and perhaps of oriental insinceritythough-it 

may be His Royal Highness would have been glad-had time allowed-to have 

got up a kind of discussion-between Missionaries & his Buddhist friends-Pray do not 

let this note get into print,- curiousity as it is every way. 

Physical Description 

The sheet of paper on which the letter is written measures 18! by 23 centimeters. It 

was folded with the name Mr. House M.D. appearing on the outside. 

Significance of the Document 

This letter presents an interesting commentary on Prince Mongkut's commitment 

to westernization as well as illuminating his relationship with the American 

missionaries. Mongkut undertook the study of English with Caswell beginning in 1845 

and the grammar, spelling, and style of this document indicate that he had made 

impressive progress. However, this letter is less polished and contains more errors 

than other letters he wrote at this time, leading one to believe he either wrote this letter 

hurriedly or had no one to proofread it. Nevertheless, Prince Mongkut had obviously 

invested no little time in learning the English language. Prince Mongkut's interest in 

English and willingness to associate with missionaries, at a time when contact with 

Westerners was not politically popular, indicates he was prepared to move against the 

tide of political events to further his relationship with Westerners. Prince Mongkut is 

an early example of what was to become a rather common pattern : the Thai official or 

member of royalty seeking opportunities to learn Western languages as a means for 

acquiring European and American leaming.9 

This document also suggests that Prince Mongkut saw that the best way to get 

the missionaries to cooperate was by offering them an opportunity to preach and to 

distribute tracts. However, in contrast to Prince Mongkut's understanding of what 

motivated the missionaries, the note by House shows that he set himself up as superior 

to the Thai, whom he stereotyped as "oriental". The condescending use of this adjective 

implies that House framed his interpretation of Mongkut's words and motivations 

out of a cultural bias against things "oriental". House, one of the missionaries closest 

to Mongkut, felt the Prince was a forward-looking individual, but when one focuses 

upon his use of the word "specimen" it almost seems as if House viewed Mongkut, at 

least in this instance, as a clinical sample of a widespread "oriental" reality.

132 Ronald D. Ronard & Herbert R. Swanson 

Finally, this document is significant in yet another way, as one of the few 

extant documents left from the papers of Dr. House. Besides being addressed to House, 

Feltus wrote that this letter was among "the papers of Dr. House,"9 implying that there 

existed a body of documents that had once belonged to him. However, Feltus, an 

upstate New York clergyman, who had apparently neither visited Thailand nor met 

House, never saw the "papers of Dr. House."lO Over the last four years, the Payap 

~llege Manuscript Divi::.ion has developed extensive contacts both in Thailand and in 

~e United States i_n its search for original missionary records. At no point has it 

discovered any collection of pap_ers written by Dr. Hous_e. While it is conceivable that 

the House .papers had already been lost when Feltus wrote his biography in 1924, it 

is most probable they went missi~g in World War II when much American Presbyterian 

Mission belongings and real estate were seized as enemy property and many missionaries 

were repatriated or interned. The Mongkut to House letter, then becomes one of the 

few tangible links' to the relationship between these two influential individuaJs. 

' REFERENCES 

1. "T Y. Chauf'a Mongkut to Mr .. House. M.D" n.d., in Rare Documents File, Records of the 

American !'resbyterian Mission 184S-1979, RG 001178 (a), at the Manuscript Division, Payap 

·College. 

i. · George Haws Fertus, The Man with the Gentle Heart: Samuel Reynolds House of Siam, Pioneer 

·: Medica/Missionary./847-'1876 (New York: Revell1924): 54-55. 

:a; :Prince Mongkut to G;W. Eddy," Seni and Kukrit Pramoj, "King of Siam Speaks." Typescript, 

· jn :the_ Sia!Il Society Library : 14-15. 

4.· Chaokkhun. Phranirotharakkit Chonthasaro, "Prawat Wat Kanchanasinghat," in Chaokhun 

: Phraniroth~rakkhlt Chorithasaro, Ru'ang Manut Winichai lae Prawat Wat Kanchanasinghat 

- (Bangkok·: Wat'Karichanasiilghat 1968) : 27. 

S. Matoon to·Presbyterian·Headquarters, October 8, 1850," V. 2, SL 1847-1864 No. 48. Records 

·. ofthe Boardof.Fore.ign.Missions, Presbyterian Church in-the U.S.A. Microfilm. The master 

negative (originals no longer. exist) is at the Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, 

U.S.A. 

6. A succinct account is in Walter Vella, Siam Under Rama III 1824-1851 (Locust Valley, N.Y.; 

Augustin 1957) : 128-130. 

7. Ibid.: 127. Vella's source is "Letter from Brown and Co. to Balestier," U.S. Congress, 

Senate : Message from the President of the United States Calling for information in Relation to 

the Mission of Mr. Balestier, Late United States Consul at Singapore to Eastern Asia, 32nd 

Cong., 1st sess., S.Ex. Doc. 38, Washington D.C. 

8. On the relationship between Mongkut and House, see Feltus : 55.ff, and Donald C. Lord, Mo 

Bradley and Thailand, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans 1969) : 125. 

9. Feltus : 54. 

10. Ibid. : 5.

A NOTE ON THE MILITARY PARTICIPATION 

OF SIAM IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR 

by 

KEITH HART* 

The outbreak of the First World War did not affect Siam directly because Of 

the great distance from Europe. However, as with the other states of the World, the 

government of King Rama VI was outraged by Germany's declaration of unrestricted 

submarine warfare in February 1917. As a result, the Siamese declared war on the 

Central Powers on 22 July of the same year. A few months later, Siam became the 

only sovereign state of Asia to send an expeditionary force to Europe during World 

War I. . 

One of the first official acts of the Kingdom of Siam upon entering the war was 

to seize all German ships in the country's ports. These vessels numbered nine of about 

1,000 tons each plus a few smaller craft. I Additionally, there was a roundup of all 

nationals of the enemy belligerents. Those arrested were interned first in Siam and 

later in India.2 But not long after the war declaration, the Siamese government moved 

to take a much more active part in the conflict. 

In September, 1917, the Siamese authorities issued a call for volunteers for an 

expeditionary force to be sent overseas.3 An agreement had been reached with France 

whereby Bangkok would send a unit consisting of motor transport troops, medical 

personnel and aviators. A small contingent, but, as P~ince Vaidyakara, Secretary of 

the Siamese Legation in Paris, stated: "... it represents the effort of a people animated 

by the highest sentiments toward France."4 

The proposed expeditionary force experienced no shortage of applications and 

a complete unit was recruited easily. To a man, the regular troops volunteered,. as did 

civilians by the thousands.5 Finally, during the first months of 1918, the final selections 

of personnel were made and a force was assembled. Altogether, 1,200 men were to be 

sent to France. 6 

* Department of History, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85281. 

1. The Statesman's Yearbook 1918, 1263. 

2. "Siam", Encyclopaedia Britannica 1921, (New York, 1922}, 466. 

3. The Times (London) 26 September 1917, 6c. 

4. The New York Times 27 July 1918, 1 : 2. 

5. Prince Chula Chakrabongse, Lords of Life: A History of the Kings of Thailand (London, 1967}, 

289. 

6. Area Handbook for Thailand (Washington, D.C., 1968}, 482. 

133

134 Keith Hart 

While the Siamese contingent was being recruited, the French military authorities 

were making arrangements for its arrival. To assist in these preparations, the 

government of Siam sent a five-man Military Mission to Paris.' Now the composition 

of the expeditionary force and the logistics were finalized. The Siamese contingent 

would consist of professional soldiers and all transportation expenses were to be borne 

by Siam. The French government would feed and maintain the unit and would be 

reimbursed by Bangkok later. Rations were to be adjusted so that rice would be added 

to the Siamese allotment.& The aviation contingent was to go to a French military air 

installation for advanced instruction while the ground force would be sent directly to 

the front after some preliminary training. 

Since the aviation section was such a technical and highly skilled part of the 

military, the French General Staff and the Legation of Siam were concerned about the 

Siamese airmen. This force, consisting of 370 men (including 113 pilots),9 did have 

trained flyers. But neither government considered their level of training to be sufficient 

to meet demands of combat at the front. Therefore, it was decided to determine 

exactly how competent the pilots were before committing them to action. On their 

arrival, the flying personnel were to be given medical examinations "with a view to 

determining, more specifically, whether or not they are susceptible to effects from flying 

at great altitudes."IO 

The impending arrival of the Siamese gave rise to other problems as well. 

Language promised to be a barrier because none of the members of the contingent 

spoke French. In addition, the pilots would have to adjust to an entirely different 

training system. II Then there was the problem of where to send the Siamese airmen 

for their advanced instruction because all French military aviation schools were fully 

engaged in fulfilling the demands of the air units of France. It was finally decided to 

place the pilots at Istres, near Miramas.I2 

With the uncertainty about the skills of the Siamese pilots came the problem 

of utilizing them at the front. The Sous-Secretariat d'Etat de I' Aeronautique Militaire 

7. Etat-Major General de 1'Armee, Groupe de !'Avant, 3" Bureau, I No. 1557 BS/3, Paris, 1e 24 

Janvier I 918; Service Historique De L'Armee De L'Air, 94300 Chateau de Vincennes (Hereafter 

S.H.A.A.). 

8. Ibid. 

9. Contingent de troupes siamoises; Liste de 1'effectif du contingent siamois; S.H.A.A. 

l 0. 

Le Sous-Secretaire D'Etat de 1' Aeronautique Mil1taire et Maritime a M.le Colonel, Inspecteur 

General des Ecoles et Depots d'Aviation, a Paris, 30 Avill918; S.H.A.A. 

11. Le So us· Secretariat D'Etat de 1' Aeronautique Militaire et Maritime, 4" Bureau, Note pour 

l'Etat-Major de l'Armee-5" Bureau Interieur~ 30 Avri11918; S.H.A.A. 

12. Ibid.

NOTES 135 

et Maritime suggested the following : "either to place the contingent under the command 

of the Navy (coast squadrons) or to send them to theatres of operations where 

the flying altitude does not matter (Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria)."13 But no final 

decision was made before the Siamese actually arrived in France. The French General 

Staff preferred to wait until the Sous-Secretariat had assessed the capabilities of the 

pilots.t4 

The Siamese Expeditionary Force landed in France at the end of July 1918. 

The ground forces underwent brief training and proceeded to the fighting front in mid 

September. IS All their equipment was proyided by the French military authorities. 

The Siamese personnel themselves wore khaki uniforms similar to those of the British 

Army.l6 

The motor transport and medical detachments of the Siamese Expeditionary 

Force reached the front in time to participate in the Champagne and Argonne battles.17 

The Siamese soldiers gave excellent service in these actions. The force, consisting of 

850 men, lost 19 killed.IS 

At about the same time as the Siamese ground units entered combat, some of 

the airmen were ready also. Consequently, General Phya Bhijai Janridh, Chief of the 

Siamese Military Mission in France, requested that certain of the aviators be attached 

to French air squadrons at the front in order for them to gain combat experience. Then 

these men could return the next spring and form, with the others, an all-Siamese unit.l9 

There was no opposition on the part of the French military authorities to this proposal. 

The Commandant of the French l'Armee du Nord Est replied that the Siamese airmen 

would be placed in groups of three in French squadrons in an area to be determined 

soon.20 However, apparently the only Siamese troops to see combat were those in the 

ground forces. The airmen were still undergoing training when the Armistice was 

signed in November 1918. 

I3. Ibid. 

14. L'Etat-Major de I' Armee, 5 Bureau Interieur a Monsieur Ie Sous-Secretaire d'Etat de 

I' Aeronautique Militaire et Maritime, 5 Mai 1918; S.H.A.A. 

15. The Statesman's Yearbook 1919, 1247. 

16. The Times (London) 9 August 1918, 6c. 

17. K. Subamonkala, La Thailande et ses Relations avec Ia France (Paris, 1960), 226. 

18. Information courtesy of: Major Achara Sukramool, WAC, Sub-Librarian, Cadet School 

Library, Bangkok, January 5, 1980. 

19. General Phya Bhijai Janridh, Chef de Ia Mission Militaire Siamoise en France aM. Le General 

Petain, Commandant en Chef les Armees franc;aises, G.Q.C., Le 11 Septembre 1918; S.H.A.A. 

20. Commandant, L' Armee du Nord Est a General Chef de Ia Mission Militaire Siamoise, 20 

Septembre I9I8; S.H.A.A.

136 Keith Hart 

After the end of hostilities, the Siamese troops served with the Allied Army of 

Occupation at Neustade-sur-Arrendt, Germany.21 They also participated in the 

victory parades in the Allied capitals in Europe. Honours accorded the contingent 

included the French Croix de Guerre and the Ramathibodi Decoration awarded by 

King Rama VI. In Bangkok, the Volunteer Soldiers Monument was erected in memory 

of those killed overseas.22 The Siamese Expeditionary Force returned home in 1919. 

21. Subamonkala, op. cit., 226. 

22. Courtesy Major Sukramool, Cadet School Library.

REVKJEWS 

Barend Jan Terwiel, Editor, Seven Probes in South East Asia (Centre for 

South East Asian Studies, Gaya, India, 1979), pp. 108. 

One of the central issues of our time is change. Everywhere change has 

become central to people's awareness. In every society there is technological change, 

demographic change, rapid ecological change, and change induced by internal incongruities 

in economic and political patterns and by conflicting ideologies. The fundamental 

questions relate to what is changing, at what level, and how. Moreover, we want to 

know what type of change is taking place, and what its magnitude, scope, and 

direction are. Furthermore, we would like to know what the mechanisms of social 

change are and to what extent such change affects the lives of the people. 

This volume of essays is intended to provide the readers with such knowledge. 

The editor makes it clear in his introduction that "the seven main chapters may be 

regarded as seven separate 'straws' to show the wind; to wit the wind of change". However, 

the seven reports on the transformation of rural communities cover only five 

Southeast Asian countries, namely, Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and 

Thailand. Each essay attempts to report the change that has taken place in each 

village in the time span of a decade or so (1960's to 1970's). It is basically a "longitudinal" 

study of each village. However, the methodology employed to study the community 

varies according to the author's academic orientation. 

The first report, A Burmese Village- Revisited, by Mya Than, is an attempt to 

answer the question: "Is there any significant social and economic change in the 

1970's in a village in Burma?". The author compared the socio-economic conditions 

of the village at three points in time, namely, in 1956, 1969 and 1978, and described 

primarily visible changes in such periods. For example, demographic, occupational, 

economic, educational, health and administrative changes. The author concludes that 

"there are no visible changes in the village's economic and social life since 1969". The 

author also asserts that "social and economic changes in this village will occur at a 

significantly rapid rate, only when forceful external forces ... are applied continuously. 

This is due to the fact that the internal generating forces have not been as strong in 

this village ......". 

Two reports on Thai villages provide us with different pictures regarding rural 

changes. The case of B(wn Wad Saancow, by Barend Jan Terwiel, is simply a description 

of what has happened in the village at two points in time. It is clear from the 

report that Baan Wad Saancaw has been modernized, As the author puts it: 

137

138 Uthai Dulyakasem 

" .•. It is undoubtedly more comfortable to live in Baan 

Wad S~ancaw in 1977 than it was in 1967, and those 

who think back to the 1950's cannot but be grateful for 

the benefits of technology". (p. 37) 

Yet, the author seems to admit that material comforts bas brought certain 

negative "side effects". For example, the village bas become part of a much more 

intricate larger world and its fate could no longer be determined at borne. Competition 

for material well-being becomes increasingly tense. People become more individualistic. 

In sum, the village has lost its rural character and peaceful life and could no longer be 

self-sufficient. 

In the case of Baan Taa, Richard Davis reports that there is little change in the 

village during 1969 and 1977. The argument put forth by the author on why little 

change bas taken place is very convincing. Those who optimistically believe that rural 

development, as has been practiced in many parts of the Third World, can realistically 

improve the quality of life of the majority of villagers without asking the question 

concerning the distribution of power-be it economic or political, should read this 

report. 

Two reports from the Philippines provide us with information regarding the 

impact of land reform and of urbanization on the improvement of the quality of life 

of the villagers. The first report, "Land Reform and Rural Transformation", by 

Jesucita L.G. Sodusta, presents the socio-economic conditions of Paltok village in 1972 

(before implementation of the Land Reform Programme) and compared them with 

those in 1977 (five years after the Land Reform Programme bad been implemented). 

The author reports that by and large, the implementation of the Land Reform Programme 

slightly improves the standard of living of the villagers, increases agricultural 

production and re-structures the socio-economic system of relationships between landowner 

and tenant. Despite admitting that the Land Reform Programme bas limited 

success and worse still fails to improve incomes and the standard of living, the author 

seems to believe that the Land Reform Programme is crucial to the rural transformation 

process. The second report, "The Capampangan Changing Life-Styles: A Case 

Study", by Realidad Santico-Rolda, describes the extent to which urbanization changes 

the life-style of the villagers in Cabetican, Pampanga. The author said that from 

1968 to 1978 considerable quantitative change bas taken place in Cabetican. The 

author also asserts that such changes are attributable to the increasing emphasis on 

education, migration, and to less emphasis on agricultural production. In other words, 

such changes are brought about by the urbanization process. It would have been more 

interesting bad we known to what extent unbanization bas generated socio-economic 

problems in the village. It's a pity that such a discussion is not presented in the report.

REVIEWS 139 

Dean K. Forbes's "Peasants in the City : An Indonesian Example" deals with 

the process by which an "informal sector" is created in an urban area. The author 

examines certain characteristics of a selection of trishaw riders in the city of Ujung 

Pandang and asserts that it is a part of the transformation of peasant society within 

the colonial mode of production. The author apparently employs a structuralfunctionalist 

explanation to such a social phenomenon. 

The last report, "Problems and Accomplishments: Kampung Asam Riang 

1967-1978", by Rosemary Barnard, presents an overview of changes in Kampung Asam 

Riang that have taken place during the period 1967-1978. Several aspects of quantitative 

change are reported, for example, population change, employment situation, 

occupation of women, mechanization of agricultural production and so on. 

The author contends that such changes are mainly caused by the introduction 

of government projects such as the irrigation scheme and the change in related infrastructures 

in the community. This essay is purely a description of what has taken 

place, in a particular period, in the village. 

Even though it is clear from the reports that changes have indeed taken place 

in rural Southeast Asia, many more important fundamental questions need to be asked, 

particularly, the consequence or the impact of such changes. Many people tend to 

assume that rural transformation is a "good thing" and uncritically attempt to have it 

done. For the reviewer, questions like: Does any effort to bring about change 

originate with the people involved? Does the project strengthen the economic and political 

power of a certain group, creating a more prosperous enclave, which then becomes 

resistant to change that might abolish its privileges? Does change generate a 

shift in power to the powerless ? Does it generate a process of democratic decisionmaking 

and a thrust toward self-reliance? Does it reinforce dependence on outside 

sources for materials and skills ? and so on and so forth. 

Answers to these questions are crucial, for it is evident that most changes that 

occur in the rural areas are change in form not in context. As we already know, the 

cause of rural poverty and other related socio-economic problems is not scarcity of 

agricultural resources, or lack of modern technology. Rather, the root of the cause is 

the increasing concentration of control over resources in the hands of fewer and fewer 

people. 

Faculty of Education, 

Silpakorn University, 

Nakorn Pathom 

Uthai Dulyakasem

John L.S. Girling, Thailand, Society and Politics (Ithaca, New York, Cornell 

University Press, 1981), pp. 306. 

Several books have been written by foreign scholars on Thailand or Thai politics, 

such as John Coast's Some Aspects of Siamese Politics (1953), David Wilson's 

Politics in Thailand (1962), Fred W. Riggs's Thailand: The Modernization of a 

Bureaucratic Polity (1966), and Clark D. Neher (ed.)'s Modern Thai Politics (1976). 

Most of these books are done in the late 1950s or the early 1960s, and become out-ofdate. 

In the meantime, Thai scholars, who have studied abroad and done their theses 

on Thai society and politics, start to publish their work, for example, Thawatt Makarapong's 

History of the Thai Revolution (1972), Thak Chaloemtiarana's Thailand: The 

Politics of Despotic Paternalism (1979). These books are excellent and add new 

knowledge and understanding about Thai history and politics, but are narrow in scope 

or deal with a short time period, or specific aspect of lhai politics. What is needed is 

the comprehensive analysis of Thai society and politics. 

Thailand is a complex society and its politics is even more dynamic and fluid 

than one expects. In analyzing Thai politics, one not only has to unravel the complex 

relations of values, structure and process, but also, as one scholar puts it, to "dare to 

think carefully about Thai society, history and culture as a totality." A new book, 

Thailand, Society and Politics by John L.S. Girting, seems to be the answer to the 

challenge. This book is published by Cornell University Press as one in the series on 

Politics and International Relations of Southeast Asia, whose general editor is George 

MeT. Kahin. 

The author of Thailand, Societr and Politics, Professor John L.S. Girling of 

Australian National University, is an "old hand" and has published many articles and 

books on Southeast Asia. He is also a keen observer of Thai politics. In Thailand, 

Society and Politics, Prefessor Girting presents his analysis in 7 chapters as the following: 

Chapter I Past and Present-This chapter presents a brief historical evolution of 

Thai society and the formation of Thai sta[e from Sukhothai, to Ayuthaya and to Ratanakosin 

or Bangkok period with the emphasis on the influence of the Sakdina system 

and values as the basis of power, authority and social structure in traditional Thai 

society. 

Chapter II Economic Change-Political and Social Implications. This chapter 

deals with the modernization processes in Thailand in the twentieth century, especially 

the economic development after the Second World War, and their impacts on contemporary 

Thai society. 

140

REVIEWS 141 

Chapter III Course of Events-A brief description of political events and changes 

in Thailand from the 1932 Revolution to the present time is presented here. 

Chapter IV Political structure-This chapter analyzes the dynamic relationship 

between the military leadership and bureaucratic structure, as well as the emergence 

of "extrabureaucratic" elements in Thai society, such as political parties, professional 

associations, academics, and labor groups, etc. 

Chapter V Political Performance-This chapter focuses the analysis on the 

October 1973 events and the democratic interregnum between 1974-1976. The reactions 

after the 1976 coup d'etat is also analyzed. 

Chapter VI External Involvement-This chapter analyzes Thai foreign relations 

with respect to the Super powers, and the neighbouring ASEAN as well as Indochinese 

countries. 

Chapter VII Revolutionary Alternative-This chapter traces the evolution and 

expansion of the communist movement in Thailand. The recent dilemma facing the 

Communist Party of Thailand is also discussed. 

Professor Girling's Thailand, Society and Politics is well-organized and well 

written and also quite comprehensive in the coverage. The main theme of the book 

seems to be based on his earlier work on "Conflict or Consensus?" Thai history is 

seen here as having been "fashioned around consensus, based on traditional Thai values, 

patterns of behavior, and institutions-in some aspects adapting to, and in others resisting, 

the impact of change." (p. II) Such a consensus does not mean simply mutual 

cooperation. In fact, clique rivalries among the leaders, such as those between Phao 

and Sarit, are parts of the rules of the game or rather understandings, which form the 

basis of the traditional Thai consensus. 

Professor Girling also points out that this consensus is expressed through personality, 

patronage, customary values, and the embodiment of all three-the bureaucracy, 

where the relations between superior and subordinate, or '·patron-client" are the natural 

form of interaction. These personal, reciprocal relationships cut across the "formal" 

organizational structure of the modern centralized bureaucracy. Thai political system 

as such "receives the symbolic support of the monarchy and the Buddhist hierarchy." 

(p. 12). 

This is the political order that only in the past two decades has been substantially 

affected by the modernization and economic development. Professor Girling 

correctly observes (p. 101) that "modernization in Thailand has taken the form of 

uneven rural development, on the one hand, and business-bureaucratic partnership, on 

the other, both within an international orbit of powerful strategic and market 

forces." These forces create newly "aware" groups and movements, in this book 

called "extrabureaucratic" elements, that no longer fit the traditional political system.

142 Chulacheeb Chinwanno 

These new groups' demand and desire for political participation clash with 

the traditional order and explode in the dramatic ousting of top military leaders in 

October 1973, thus launching Thai society onto the path of democratic experiment. 

The experiment lasts for three years and is reversed by the coup d'etat in October 

1976, bringing down the fragile structure of democracy. A large number of students, 

intellectuals, labor leaders, and other "extrabureaucratic" elements left for the jungle 

to join the Communist Party of Thailand. The coup has the effect of speeding up the 

process of polarization in Thai society, even though some of its effects has been limited 

by the present government's moderation; and many who left for the jungle have 

returned home. 

Professor Girling believes and I agree with him that Thailand cannot return to 

the old "accepted" system, because the consensus on which it was based has been lost. 

The political problem facing Thai political elite now is whether they can create new 

conditions for rebuilding consensus or not. In addition to this, the fundamental social 

problem of Thai society, according to Girling, is whether even political consensus is 

sufficient to carry out, through the existing machinery of government, those rural 

reforms (notably land redistribution, tenancy laws, availability of credit, and so on), 

combmed with the administrative reforms (putting an end to "feudal'' attitudes and 

abuses, subjection to "influence," and bias in favor of the rural and urban elite) that 

the situation demands. Whether Thai elite can solve these problems remains to be 

seen. 

In general, Thailand, Society and Polilics is well-researched and well-balanced 

in presenting facts and interpretations. Professor Girling should be congratulated for 

his fine efforts. Although the work relies heavily on secondary sources, this does not 

reduce the value· of the book. In fact, Professor Girting's perceptive analysis and 

insightful interpretations make this book one of the best on Thai politics and contribute 

significantly to the field of Thai studies. A small suggestion here is that the book 

will be more complete if the formal politicalstructures, central as well as provincial 

levels, are included for those who are not familiar with the complexities of Thai political 

structures. In a word, Professor Girting's Thailand, Society and Politics is highly 

recommended for scholars as well as laymen and others who are interested in Thai 

society and politics. 

Faculty of Social Sciences, 

Mahidol University 

Chulacheeb Chinwanno

Somsakdi Xuto, et al, Thailand in the 1980's : Significant Issues, Problems 

and Prospects (Bangkok: Printing Co-Ordination Co., Ltd., 1981), 84 pages. 

This is a booklet of four contributors reviewing the socio-economic and political 

phenomena which had taken place in Thailand from the 1960's to the end of the 

1970's with an attempt to forecast what the 1980's Thailand would be like. It is rather 

a brave as well as dangerous enterprise on the part of prominent Thai scholars, who 

are quite aware of the nature of their undertaking, when a sentence saying "Some 

major exogenous factors may change which might affect considerably the course of 

events, and this is beyond the ability of the present state of arts to predict" is inserted. 

On the other hand, it seems that some of the so-called "significant issues" and "problems" 

are perennial within Thai society, such as the characteristics of Thai politics, 

bureaucracy and economic structure, and will stay with us for years to come. As such, 

predictability is enhanced to a certain extent. Understandably, a decade-long forecast 

like this has to be granted a certain degree of imprecision. Also granted is the assumption 

that the forecastors base their assessment on broad enough indicators yet do 

not compromise their insight to generality. 

Population growth occurs unevenly (perhaps, in a sense, evenly) in Thailand 

owing to the fact pointed out in the study that higher population growth takes place in 

the northeast and the south while the north and the central plains experience a lower 

growth rate. This is linked to the need for labour in the former case because mechanization 

in the agricultural sector is still implicitly low due to rural poverty. In other 

words, mechanization in agriculture at some stages in the central plains area influences 

lower population growth. Or does it? It is pointed out that "regional fertility are 

mostly due to topographical economic and social structural variants", and fertility 

means population growth. This still seems to be proved by the historical perspective of 

population growth of Thailand: that is to say, has the central plains remained an area 

of low population growth throughout? Rightly, population growth and unemployment 

do not directly correlate. But to play up a demographic element too much will cause 

misunderstanding. Australia which has zero population growth is facing unemployment. 

Evidently, the Thai economy since the 1960's has become more and more tied 

up with "exogenous" factors: capital, market, investment, pricing, credit, money value, 

industrialization, etc. It is hopeless to see the emergence of independent Thai 

capitalists. The encroachment of or the irreversible course of Thai economy in relations 

to world capital and multi-national corporations makes it next to impossible for 

Thailand to be able to manage her economy the way she might like, to say nothing of 

various constraints acting upon that policy. How the quasi-developed and undeveloped 

sectors of the Thai economy will survive is very significant for Thailand. 

143

144 Withaya Sucharithanarugse 

The bureaucracy has been given a very predominant role in modern Thai 

politics. In fac~, it has been so since the beginning of the Thai polity. The military 

is also a bureaucrat. What Riggs called the "constitutive system" in Thai politics will 

never be able to rival the executive branch of government with the bureaucracy at its 

command no matter how earnestly we might wish for it. No drastic change that can 

upturn the present situation is foreseeable in the 1980's Thailand. Party development? 

How? Through regulations in party bill (s)? 

Institute of Asian Studies, 

Chulalongkorn University 

Withaya Sucharithanarugse

Puey Ungpbakorn, A Siamese for All Seasons (Komol Keemthong Foundation, 

Bangkok, 6 October 1981), pp. 351 

Puey U ngphakorn, A Siamese for All Seasons is a collection of articles by and 

about Dr. Puey Ungphakorn, one of the outstanding leaders of present-day Thailand. 

The book takes the reader on an exciting journey through recent Thai history, starting 

with Dr. Puey's experiences in the Free Thai Movement during World War II, his 

struggles to help build a truly democratic Thailand with a strong and just economy, 

and his deeply personal views of the events that led up to and through the events of 

October 1976. 

For serious students of Thailand who wish to better understand recent Thai 

history, and who would like to better know one of the figures who played such an 

important part in that history, this book is a must. 

Dr. Puey is an economist, and served as Governor of the Bank of Thailand 

from 1959 to 1971 and later as economic adviser to the government of Mr. Sanya 

Dharmasakti. He was later to also serve as the Rector of Thammasat University, a 

post which he was holding when the university was put to siege by rightist elements and 

many students killed, hanged and burned. Dr. Puey ~eft the country at that time and 

went to England where he now lives. Included in this book is an article written by a 

Thai journalist who recently visited Dr. Puey in England, and through that article one 

can see the fierce love and loyalty which Dr. Puey still holds for his beloved Thailand. 

Dr. Puey's clear and strong analysis of the Thai situation, and his welcome 

sense of humor make this book easy reading, yet powerful and thought-provoking. 

Church of Christ in Thailand 

Max Ediger 

145

Pridi Banomyong, Political and Military Tasks of the Free-Thai Movement 

to Regain National Sovereignty and Independence (Bangkok: A marin Press, 1981), 

79 pages. 

This is a booklet which Mr. Pridi Banomyong wrote in 1979 in letter-form to 

Phra Bisal-Sukhumvit after he read the latter's book in Thai entitled "Report of Free 

Thai His Mission in Kandy, New Delhi and USA" (Bangkok: Thai Khasem Press, 

1979). Some crucial points relating to the subtlety of activities pursued by the Free 

Thai Movement during the Japanese occupation of Thailand in the last war in order to 

regain independence for Thailand and to salvage Thailand from becoming a war criminal 

country, are explicated in an impassioned manner. Mr. Pridi takes pain to substantiate 

virtually most of his statements by non-partisan sources. The main thrust of 

Mr. Pridi's argument is twofold: (1) armed resistance activities must be carried out in 

conjunction with vigorous diplomatic initiatives and (2) cooperation of Thai people 

and officials is indispensable. Admittedly, in this booklet, Mr. Pridi draws more 

attention to the diplomatic course of action. The validity for this argument is 

quite evident. Field Marshal Pibul's martial adventures so angered the Chinese that 

they pressed for the occupation of Thai territory above the sixteenth northern latitude, 

while the British were as displeased as to want to keep the Thai government's authority 

outside Thai territory below the twelfth northern latitude. Pridi rightly emphasises 

significance of the mission to clear up the mess with the Allied Powers. It should be 

clear here that in the circumstance in which the sovereignty of the nation was at stake, 

wise and rational thinking as well as diplomatic skill once again came to the rescue, 

thanks to the predominant role of Pridi. 

Financial matters connected with the activities of the Free-Thai Movement 

are also clarified. Granted the secret measures undertaken by the group, it is indeed 

amazing that things were handled so admirably well. Perhaps it is timely to point out 

at the present when money seems to be heavily involved in all political acts that political 

motivation need not be propelled by financial expectations or entail dubious financial 

manipulation. Mr. Pridi refers too to the rather complicated situation of the period 

in which groups such as the Communist Party of Thailand were making claims about 

their role in the event and to the anti-Japanese activities of the local Chinese. Evidently, 

the CPT's part begs for research. 

Amazingly, a man of his age (81) Mr. Pridi's quest for truth and knowledge is 

as vigorous as ever, a quality that transcends all praise. 

Institute of Asian Studies, 

Chulalogkorn University 

146 

Withaya Sucharithanarugse

91 

M.R. Nimitmongkol Nawarat, 1eltn11'llel\llJ1fH?l (A Drama: The Emerald's 

Cleavage), translated from the English by Charnvit Kasetsiri, Introduction by Chaianan 

Samudvanija (Thammasat University Press, 1981), (24) + 187 pp., paperback. 

Even in the rather eccentric world of Thai letters M.R. Nimitmongkol Nawarat 

is an unusual figure. A member of the royal family, he showed considerable interest 

in democracy, socialism, and more radical political doctrines; though apparently having 

no foreign education he often wrote, and wrote well, in English; he spent a great part 

of his adult life in prison an political charges, and yet when not in jail he held various 

positions in the military and civilian bureaucracy; and when he died, aged less than 

40, of illnesses contracted during his imprisonment his cremation was royally sponsored. 

In literary terms his career has also been erratic, for it was only with the republication, 

long after his death in 1948, of his utopian political novel Muang Nimit (original title: 

Khwamfan khQng nak udomkhati, Dreams of an Idealist) that he came to the attention 

of a younger generation, and it is upon this work and his autobiographical Chiwit haeng 

kankabot song khrang (rather freely rendered in English by M.R. Nimit himself as 

The Victim of the Two Political Purges) that his reputation largely rests. 

However political authors are particularly prone to leave behind unpublished 

works (cf. Chit Phumisak), and this is the case with the work under review. 

Written 

in English, it was preserved by M.R. Nimit's son and first published in 1974 in Thai 

translation in the journal Phuan. In the present volume Thammasat Press makes available 

both the original English text and the Thai translation, augmented by a lengthy 

introduction by Chai-anan Samudvanija and a biographical section on M.R. Nimit 

written by his widow for a 1949 memorial volume. 

The original date of composition is not known, but from internal evidence the 

setting of the drama is about 1940/41, and it is probably safe to assume that the work 

was written not long after the period with which it deals. Thus the setting is the first 

Phibun era, though as Chai-anan correctly observes--and despite the author's highly 

political earlier writings--this is more or less incidental to the central theme, and the 

story could have been placed in almost any historical context. Indeed apart from some 

mention of special courts, with which the author's alleged involvement in the 1933 

Bowaradej rebellion and the 1938 'Phya Song Suradej' conspiracy had provided extensive 

firsthand experience, there are less specific references to the Phibun era than to 

Wellington Koo and (in somewhat more veiled form) Chiang Kai-chek, references 

which many presentday readers will find obscure at best. 

147

148 Benjamin A. Batson 

The real subject however, alluded to in the title but not made explicit until the 

last of the four acts, is not politics but human nature, and specifically that 'all men are 

flawed'. The emerald of the title finally makes its appearance in the guise of a rather 

heavy-handed symbolism: the heroine, Ara, on the verge of leaving her husband 

Dilok after having discovered his less than spotless past, is wearing an emerald ring. 

Bairojana, the wise protagonist and voice of the author, makes a pretence of criticizing 

the ring on the grounds the stone is flawed, suggesting that hence she should discard it; 

Ara indignantly replies that all emeralds have imperfections, and the reader sees at 

once, and Ara eventually, that Bairojana's comments really concern not jewelry but 

her errant husband, and mankind in general. 

The format of the volume is excellent, with Chai-anan's introduction followed 

by the biographical section, and finally the text of the drama itself with English and 

Thai versions on facing pages. This commendably, if perhaps a bit rashly, facilitates 

comparing the translation with the original text. On the whole the Thai version seems 

somewhat 'fiat', generally conveying the 'meaning' of the English but often without 

the 'flavor' of the original, and with little sense of the word-play and verbal sparring 

that characterize much of the English dialogue (one rather suspects that M.R. Nimit 

was an avid reader of G.B. Shaw). Thus for example in the exchange over the emerald 

ring, when Ara comments that it is "inherited" Bairojana's rejoinder is that as it is 

flawed she "had better disown it"; however in Thai this latter is rendered simply 

"thoe mai na ja keb man wai" (You ought not to keep it), which hardly does justice 

to the literary style and balance of the original (pp. 168-169). And at times even the 

meaning of the English seems to be missed, as in the third act when the black-mailing 

Supatra complains of cigarette smoke at Bairojana's, and tracking down the source 

announces "There it--they are fuming" (emphasis added). The reader is to understand 

of course (as is made explicit on the following page) that she is well aware that Bairojana 

has just received another visitor, undoubtedly Dilok, who has made a hurri~d 

departure upon her arrival; the Thai however (Nan ngai Kamlang khwan khamong) 

gives the reader no indication of the singular/plural distinction and its significance, or 

even why the cigarette(s) should be mentioned at all (pp. 118-119). 

What then of the work as a whole? Chai-anan's Introduction draws--one 

might say 'overdraws' --comparisons with Machiavelli; but then Introductions by their 

nature are more or less required to make a case for the significance of that which they 

introduce. The four characters (there are also several servants, serving mainly to set 

the scene and for comic relief) can hardly be said to 'develop', except in coming to 

realize the obvious. The symbolism seems a bit contrived and labored, nor is the struc-

REVIEWS 149 

ture particularly distinguished ; indeed by the third act when Dilok is hiding in a 

bedroom and Supatra in a "telephone box" we are hardly above the level of farce. 

Perhaps the greatest merit of the work is in the clever and polished dialogues, though 

as noted above this at times suffers somewhat in translation. And the English text 

itself has a number of obvious faults, though it is not clear to what degree these are 

simply misprintings or are reflections of the original text (apparently a pencil draft). 

In narrowly literary terms then one might say a 'minor' work. But such a 

judgment does less than justice to author and translator. 'Thai literature' in English 

is a fairly rare phenomenon, and works of M.R. Nimit even more so, though he was 

one of the most original and innovative writers of his age. 'The Emerald's Cleavage', 

as Chai-anan observes, is a significant departure from Nimit's earlier writings, and 

deserves to be read as both a product and a reflection of the post-1932 political scene. 

This attractive, inexpensive Thammasat edition is to be commended in making available 

both the Thai and English texts along with the substantial background materials. It is 

a valuable work in its own right, and will be even more so if it inspires some scholar to 

give M.R. Nimit's career and writings the comprehensive study they deserve. 

Asia Center of Japan, 

Tokyo 

Benjamin A. Batson

William L. Bradley, Siam Then (William Carey Library, Pasadena, California, 

1981), pp. 205 including index, notes, acknowledgments, etc. 

The librarian who is a purist may find it hard to classify the book under review. 

Perhaps it can best be described as .'history, slightly fictionalized". 

However, the emphasis 

must lie heavily on the history aspect, and it is in that section I would place it in 

my library. 

The author is a descendant of Dr. Daniel Beach Bradley. 

It draws on many 

sources- 'missionary journals, correspondence, printed articles in missionary magazines, 

and the official records of denominational boards and the National Archives of the 

United States.' Dr. Bradley himself kept a journal for most of the 38 years he spent in 

Siam, and it is this and his other writings which provide most of the material. 

William 

Bradley states, 'For a number of years prior to his death in 1873 Dr. Bradley 

published an almanac entitled "The Bangkok Calendar". 

On two occasions the 

"Calendar" included his "Reminiscences from a Journal of the Oldest Living Missionary 

to the Siamese." It is in the style and manner of these recollections that I have cast 

the series of accounts that constitute this book. 

Some of the events that follow were 

observed and reported by Dan Bradley; some were not. Because he saw himself as the 

spokesman of the foreign community, however, he seems an appropriate narrator of 

the totality". (Preface). 

One other important point must be made. The book's sub-title, "The Foreign 

Colony in Bangkok Befor~ and After Anna" must be taken seriously. Those who 

seek a description of the Siamese people and administration will not find it here, except 

for scattered, incidental references. The forty short chapters are described under the 

rubric "Cast of Characters : The Siamese, The Missionaries, the Bradleys, and Other 

Foreigners.'', and it can be quickly seen that amongst these the farangs, their ways and 

their doings, are predominant. 

That, of course, is not a drawback, but just a sensible 

limitation imposed by the author on his material. Sometimes, reading this book, one 

feels that some characters are encountered without adequate introduction, e.g. the 

French Consul-General, Aubaret, or Charles Redman (first mentioned on page 99, not 

p. 98 as per index). This drawback is slightly alleviated by pp. xvii-xix of the Preface, 

where, under the heading "Cast of Characters", very brief notes explain the roles of 

the "drama tis personae". 

When all this has been said, we have in this book a most entertaining and 

informative account of the people and incidents which it records. The style is crisp 

and clear, avoiding repetitions and wearying detail, and making the people concerned 

150

REVIEWS 151 

very real and believable people in their own right, be they seamen, consuls, courtesans, 

merchants, adventurers, or Anna herself, who comes out of the telling, brief though it 

is, with dignity and our respect. 

Above all, this is not a work of hagiology. 

The doings and characteristics of 

the missionaries, comprising the major part ofthe book, are presented "in the round". 

We are told not only of their successes, but also of their failings and failures; not only 

of their united efforts to bring Christ to the Siamese nation, but also of their not infrequent 

failings out with each other, and their sometimes undignified squabbles and 

feuds. 

Like all other expatriates in an isolated situation there was a degree of social 

claustrophobia which did not always lend itself to mutual appreciation or harmony. 

Bradley himself may not have been the easiest of men to live with at times. 

Perhaps 

because of the book's concentration on the foreign community one sometimes wonders 

to what extent these first missionaries failed to really identify with the local population, 

and to what extent this accounts for the very meagre results they obtained in 

terms of building the Church in Siam into a strong indigenized, Christian community. 

But this does not deny the vital contribution they made t the nation's life. 

Epilogue William Bradley says: 

In the 

"Dr. Bradley died more than a century ago, but his 

name is known to every schoolchild in Thailand as the one who introduced Western 

surgery, vaccination, and the newspaper to their country. His widow spent the remainder 

of her life in Bangkok, continuing in the printing business that had sustained the 

family throughout the years. 

The missionary enterprise was continued through three 

more generations ..... The story of those Americans who lived in Bangkok a century 

ago reads like a fairytale now. 

Most of them were in their twenties, restless and in 

search of adventure, fortunate enough to become the friends of princes and nobles in 

an exotic land that still entices Americans by its charms 

For whatever their reasons, 

they went forth as conquerors, and they all succumbed to a nation that could accept 

Christianity but remain staunchly Buddhist, welcome democracy but maintain an 

absolute monarchy, and open its port to foreign trade while preserving a monopoly for 

its own citizens." 

The book also contains much that is humorous or quaint to our modern minds. 

Dr. Bradley is claimed to have written, "Our last day before departure was spent in a 

delightful visit to the Charlestown Prison, the Insane Asylum and the beautiful new 

Mt. Auburn Cemetery". Daniel and Emilie had been married less than a month! They 

sailed on July 1st, 1834, and took more than a year to reach Bangkok. An interesting

152 Harold F. Gross 

map shows their route, and that of Bradley's second, return trip in 1849. (When they 

first went, they never expected to see America again, and Emilie never did.). Two 

other maps, one of Thailand and one of Bangkok are considerably less helpful. 

There is some evidence of haste in preparing this book for the final stages of 

its publication. One Index error has already been noted; there may be others. There 

is also a serious mistake in pagination in the Preface, between pp. xi and xv. Page 

xiii must be read after page xi, then pages xii and xiv, in that order. 

The illustrative photographs are excellently reproduced. 

This is a most readable and interesting insight into the life of the 19th century 

farang inhabitants of Bangkok, and I warmly recommend it. 

Bangkok Christian College 

Harold F. Gross

George Vinal Smith, The Dutch in Seventeenth-Century Thailand (N. Illinois 

University, Center for Southeast Asian Studies Special Report No. 16, 1977), pp. 203 

Published in 1977, this monograph is likely to remain for some time the standard 

work on Thai-Dutch relations during the Seventeenth Century and on the Siam 

trade of the Dutch United East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, 

or V.O.C.). The book's two focal points are the V.O.C, and the kingdom of Ayutthaya. 

It is therefore likely to be of use both to historians of the Dutch "seaborne empire" 

and to anyone studying Siamese history. George Vinal Smith's is a pioneering work, 

the first to use Dutch sources comprehensively, and to present a Dutch point-of-view, 

in the study of Seventeenth Century Ayutthaya. New factual evidence is brought to 

light, and new interpretations put forward, making several historical events and episodes 

far less obscure or muddled than they had appeared. For example, the circumstances 

surrounding the Pattani rebellion of the 1630s and the background to the Thai 

Dutch conflict of 1663-1664 emerge more clearly than ever before, thanks largely to 

the availability of V.O.C. archival documents, and to Dr. Smith's careful study of these 

invaluable sources. 

The first chapter of the book is a concise but informative introduction to the 

"Historical Background" of the period which the author has chosen to study (1604- 

1690). It is in the subsequent chapters, however, that the bulk of the new data may 

be found. Chapter II, on the political history of the V.O.C. in Ayutthaya, is probably 

of the greatest general interest. Dr. Smith is especially illuminating when dealing with 

the period during which the Dutch became most involved in Siamese political affairs, 

a period roughly corresponding with the reign of King Prasatthong (1629-1656). The 

King asked the V.O.C. for military assistance against his rebellious vassals the Queen 

of Pattani and the King of Cambodia. In 1634 the V.O.C. sent six: vessels to help the 

Siamese forces then besieging Pattani, but the Dutch fleet arrived two weeks after the 

Siamese bad abandoned the siege. In 1644 the Dutch Governor-General asked King 

Prasatthong for military cooperation in attacking Cambodia, where several Dutchmen 

had recently been massacred by order of the new Khmer King. King Prasatthong sent 

some ships to help the V.O.C., but once again the Siamese and Dutch forces failed to 

find each other. Although little came of these joint operations, it is significant that 

the V.O.C. valued its commerce in Siam enough to involve itrelf militarily in Siamese 

foreign/tributary affairs. Batavia wanted a steady supply of Thai rice and coconut oil, 

and· a hides export monopoly in Siam. An alliance with King Prasatthong was thought 

to be one way of securing these trade objectives. 

153

154 Dhiravat na Pombejra 

Dr. Smith deserves credit for portraying King Prasatthong as much more than 

a regicidal monster given to bouts of drunkenness. Prasatthong was an able and energetic 

King. Even Jeremias van Vliet, who has left to posterity a detailed account of 

Prasatthong's cruelty when seizing the crown, saw fit to praise the usurper's qualities as 

a ruler. After King Prasatthong's death, the V.O.C. tried to avoid any involvement 

in Siam's political affairs. Nevertheless Thai-Dutch relations during King Narai's 

reign (1656-1688) were far from uneventful. Dr. Smith cogently refutes the idea that 

King Narai was constantly on bad terms with the Dutch, pointing out that only in 

1663-1664, and from circa 1682 to 1685, did the V.O.C. have strained relations with 

the Siamese court. However, the significance of the Dutch blockade of 1663 and the 

unequal treaty of 1664 is played down rather too much. The August 1664 treaty 

between Siam and the V.O.C. cannot be interpreted as anything other than a humiliation 

of the Siamese, and an attempt by the V.O.C. to stop Siamese crown trade to Japan 

(by forbidding the use of Chinese pilots and crews on the King's ships). The V.O.C. 

never had any intention of conquering Siam, but King Narai must have retained enough 

fear of the V.O.C. to have taken seriously the rumours in 1682-1685 tl:lat the Dutch, 

fresh from their conquest of Bantam, were about to attack Siam. 

Dr. Smith provides a detailed account and discussion of the V.O.C.'s trade in 

Ayutthaya, aud of the Seventeenth Century Siamese economy (Chapters III and IV). 

The V.O.C.'s Siam office was not one of its most important: Siam had neither silk nor 

spices. These two chapters on the V.O.C.'s commerce in Siam are noteworthy for 

their accounts of the various markets and types of merchandise in which the V.O.C. 

competed. The Siamese King emerged as a major competitor of the foreign merchants, 

for he had at his disposal a great amount of manpower and a system of warehouses 

and monopolies. The Dutch nevertheless managed to obtain a hides export monopoly 

from King Prasatthong and a tin export monopoly at Ligor (Nakhon Sithammarat) 

from King Narai. Having suffered from the monopolistic practices of Phaulkon in the 

168Qs, the Dutch must have been relieved to witness the fall of the "Greek mandarin" 

in the succession conflict of 1688, especially when King Phetracha decided that he 

would henceforth deal with no European nation other than the Dutch. Although it 

appears that the V.O.C.'s Ayutthaya trade declined in intensity towards the end of the 

Seventeenth Century, there was a Dutch presence in Siam right up to the sack of the 

Siamese capital in 1767. 

The survival of the V.O.C. in Ayutthaya says much for its employees' ability to 

adapt to conditions in Siam, an approach which George Vinal Smith calls keeping a 

"low profile". His chapter on the V.O.C.'s personnel and their interaction with 

Siamese society and institutions (especially the crown) is full of fascinating informa-

REVIEWS 155 

tion. It constitutes, in fact, a social history of the Dutch in Seventeenth Century Ayutthaya. 

The Siamese could not have been naive enough to perceive the V.O.C. personnel 

in Siam as a group of phrai under a nai, but they appreciated the Netherlanders' attempts 

to conform to their system of hierarchy and manpower organisation. Dr. Smith tells 

how, from experience, the Dutch learned to maintain this "low profile" while the 

French made social and diplomatic faux pas. He also corrects the impression that the 

French were the ones who supplied King Narai with all things European. The V.O.C. 

often obliged the King by supplying him with scientific tools, luxury goods, and skilled 

personnel. The French arrived in Siam much later than the Dutch, and supplied the 

Siamese court with fewer artisans. 

Last but not least, Dr. Smith's work establishes once and for all the importance 

of Dutch sources in the study of Ayutthaya history. His Appendix I is an excellent 

survey of Dutch sources on Seventeenth Century Siam, bringing to our attention hitherto 

neglected works such as those by Gijsbert Heecq and Joannes Keijts. Matters of 

authorship and authenticity are also cleared up. For instance, Dr. Smith convincingly 

argues that the "Desfarges" account of the 1688 upheavals was indeed wdtten by the 

French commander, and not by a Dutchman. He also raises strong objections to the 

validity of Jan Struijs' highly coloured account of Siam as a primary source .. The most 

important sources, however, are the V.O.C. archives at the Algemeen Rijksarchief in 

The Hague. The author rightly emphasizes the special value of the Overgekomen 

Brieven collection, The documents in this collection, mostly written in Ayutthaya, 

are necessarily limited in the scope of their subject-matter, being in the main merchants' 

letters. Nevertheless the V.O.C. records form the most complete set of archives relevant 

to the history of Siam from 1604 to circa 1765. George Vinal Smith's book will 

surely inspire more historians to use Dutch source material in their study of Seventeenth 

and Eighteenth Century Siam. 

School of Oriental and African Studies, 

London University · 

Dhiravat na Pomhejra

Klaus Wenk, Tbe Art of Motber-of-pearl in Thailand, German and English, 

English translation by Sean and Elisabeth 0' Loughlin (Inigo von Oppersdorff Publishers, 

Zurich,. Switzerland, 1980), Illustrated, pp. 140 

Although the art of mother-of-pearl inlay is usually counted among the "secon.; · 

dary arts", perhaps because a large portion of it is handicraft, it is yet surprising that 

literature on it should' be so scarce, considering the intriguing character and effect of 

this material and the wide range of its application. This is particularly true in the 

case of Thailand whose mother-of-pearl art has been neglected abroad even more than 

Thai art in general, compared to the affluence of. what has been published on the arts 

of other Asian countries. 

Such an indifference seems both regrettable and unwarranted. We do find in 

Thailand examples of mother-of-pearl art creations, as for instance at the Ubosot of 

the Wat Phra Chetuphon in Bangkok, which are outstanding not merely for their subtle 

craftsmanship and almost incredibly delicate treatment of this brittle material but, for 

the exquisite beauty of the artists' conceptions and the splendour of every detail filled 

with a live, iridescent, almost unearthly beauty attained by hardly any other technique. 

All the more welcome is a volume published recently under the title 'The Art 

of J:Jother-of-pearl in Thailand'. It is a valuable addition to the by now impressive 

series of works on Thai art by Dr. Klaus Wenk, Professor of Hamburg University, 

Germany, a man who combines a passionate dedication to the Thai genius with a scrupulously 

discriminating scholarly mind. It may be mentioned here in parentheses that 

Wenk, after completing his juridical studies and being comfortably installed as a young 

lawyer chanced to come acrn~r ,.,... - and was so struck by it that he abandoned 

his profession t" 

nai studies, holding today the Chair for Langu- 

~ at his University and enjoying a reputation as 

~ field. 

volume presents samples of all possible applications of 

ation, from objects of everyday use like small boxes 

l, trunks or chests (Ciet), tobacco boxes (hip huri muk), 

r9ng pr'adap muk), and so forth; to the containers for 

uk, and tatum), or to a bride or highly placed personages;· 

.ases; monks' chairs, throne seats and regalia ; all the way 

. which those at Wat Phra Chetuphon are as crowning achi 

;;ixteen magnificent plates. The subtle colours and iridescent 

.ifully in the photographs of high quality for which the Swiss 

publisher Jm 5 .... vn Oppersdorff is well known. 

156

REVIEWS 157 

The author, iti modest scholarly understatement, defines as his intention merely 

to offer "a stimulus and an introduction" to further studies in this field. He refers to 

the existing works of Thai authors like Luong Wisansinlapakam, Somphop Phirom and 

others listed in his bibliography. But the significance and merit of Wenk's book seems 

rather that, in preparing it, he sifted and probed all the existing knowledge on Thai 

mother-of-pearl art and assembled in this slender volume whatever could be termed 

scientifically certified. His hope, evidently, is that on these solid, if measured, foundations 

others may feel encouraged to build and enlarge. 

How slim this basis is as yet in some areas become most apparent in the historical 

chapter. Wenk"s principal conclusions are that, although mother-of-pearl was used . 

for decoration already in the Dvaravati period, there is no line of development from 

there to the "Footprint of the Lord Buddha" in the Chiangmai Museum, nor to the 

Ubosot doors of Wat Phra Chetuphon in Bangkok ; that, contrary to other fields of art, 

we have no evidence thus far of any neighbouring country's influence on Thai motherof-pearl 

art, prior to the Ratanakosin period; and that, with very few objects of this 

art datable, there is only one rather reliable historical dividing line : the earlier, ornamen 

tal period before the Chetuphon doors, and a late period from then on, turning to 

more naturalistic forms and to scenic representations. 

What the book brings out clearly is that the Ratanakosin era did not merely 

achieve a development of the formal elements in mother-of-pearl art but, a nearly 

revolutionary change of conception. Whereas the classic style is almost entirely decorative, 

with an overwhelming predominance of geometric and plant-derived forms, 

sometimes ending up in stylized mythical heads or figures, the new style attempted in 

its masterpieces the presentation of vivid scenes of action set in complete landscapes, 

in the manner and style of classical Thai painting. It is not surprising that in thisconsidering 

the material- utterly ambitious proposition some of the new creations did 

not at once attain to the harmonious perfection of the decorative style at its best, such 

as we find it for example in the doors of the Phra Monthop Phd1 Phutha Bat at Saraburi. 

What one marvels at is rather that by carving brittle shells one should have succeeded 

in vying with the delicacy and elegance of the nimble pencil or pen. 

A magnificent mother-of-pearl creation of an entirely different kind is reproduced 

and commented on in conclusion. It is a dance mask of Hanuman embellished 

by lavish application of this material- a decorative piece not for actual use. Only four 

of these precious masks exist, two of them old, of which one is in the possession of 

His Majesty the King, the other one of the National Museum in Bangkok. The mask 

reproduced in the book is one of the only two built by a contemporary master, the late 

Nai Chit Kiudiiongcai. It is in the possession of the author and was built in 1970 at 

the request of H.H. Prince Ajavadis Diskul, to the memory of whom the book is also 

dedicated.

158 Volkmar Zuehlsdorff 

A detailed description of the manufacturing processes for mother-of-pearl art, 

including a brief comparison with Chinese and Vietnamese techniques, gives an impression 

of the enormously labour-intensive character of this craft and some indication for 

the superior quality of Thai-produced work. 

Being published in English, in addition to German, the book is accessible to a 

wide audience. Those outside Thailand will find it helpful that a chapter has been 

added to introduce the reader to the kr'fzcang and especially kranok ornaments in their 

various forms recurring in all mother-of-pearl designs. 

All in all, this volume should be warmly welcomed by both Thais and Westerners 

because it opens up to the outside world another field of art in which the Thai 

genius has excelled. It may even be that such an enhanced reputation abroad might 

kindle, not altogether superfluously, a broader attention to, and appreciation of, this 

precious heritage in Thailand itself. In any case, the author and his publisher, after a 

series of works in a similar vein, most notable among them the monumental opus 

Mural Paintings in Thailand, have added another distinguished feather to their already 

well-bedecked caps. 

Volkmar Zueh/sdorff

Santosh Nagpaul Desai, Hinduism in Thai Life (Popular Prakashan Private 

Ltd., Bombay 1980), pp. 163. 

Reading Hinduism in Thai Life by Prof. (Mrs.) S.N. Desai reminds me of a 

poem written by that illustrious son and savant of India, Rabindranath Tagore, on the 

occasion of his visit to Thailand (then Siam) in 1927. The last stanza of that poem 

entitled "To Siam" reads: 

"I come, a pilgrim, at thy gate, 0 Siam, to offer my verse to 

the endless glory of India sheltered in thy home, away from her own 

deserted shrine~ to bathe in the living stream that flows in thy heart, 

whose water descends from the snowy height at a sacred time on which 

arose, from the deep of my country's being, the Sun of Love and 

Righteousness." 

The underlining is mine. Readers will kindly forgive my impudence for I just 

want to point out "the glory of India" that inspired Tagore to compose the above poem 

and dedicate it to Siam. 

In her preface to the book under review, Prof. Desai writes that during her 

four-year stay in Thailand, she "acquired a knowledge of and developed a warm feeling 

for Thai religious and cultural life." I presume that this "warm feeling" on the part of 

the authoress, though not expressed in the same vein as Tagore did half a century ago, 

moved her in no small measure to bring out the present book. 

In any case, there is no denying the fact that countries of South-east Asia have 

been in cultural contacts with India since ages past. Georges Coedes, the renowned 

French archaeologist of Indo-China and Thailand, says that these contacts date 

back to the early centuries before the Christian era. If language is to be any criterion 

of such contacts, Thailand, among countries of South-east Asia, perhaps, has been in 

very close cultural relations with India, for there is a significantly high percentage of 

Sanskrit and Pali words in the Thai language, especially so iri respect of literary Thai 

and terms for technical expression. Indeed, without the component of Sanskrit and 

Pali vocabulary, the Thai language would not be what it is today. 

"The object of this book is to .assess the role of the Hindu traditions in Thai 

life--their functional value, their significance to the Thai, and the extent to which they 

were modified," writes Prof. Desai at the very commencement of her preface. Accordingly, 

Hinduism in Thai Life is divided into six chapters, namely: 

159

160 Karuna Kus~~aya 

I. Thai History and Archaeology: Evidence of Indian Contacts 

II. Thai Religion, Festivals and Ceremonies : Elements of Hinduism 

III. Thai Political Theory: The Hindu Components 

IV. Thai Literature: The Rama Story, The Hindu Religious Epic 

V. The Ramakirti and the Non-Valmiki Versions of the Rama Story: In India 

' and in other countries of South-east Asia 

VI. Conclusion 

Each of the above chapters deals cogently with the subject concerned. To those 

not familiar with Sanskrit and Pali terms, the book may prove a little irksome. 

But thoughtful readers will sympathize with the authoress since books on such subjects 

could hardly be written without referring to Sanskrit texts and sources. 

Coming from a Brahmin family, herself a professor of Hinduism and Buddhism. 

and, above all, having studied the subject on the spot, Prof. Desai is fully merited to 

undertake this scholarly job. 

The authoress took great pains to explain the elements of Hinduism in Thai 

religion, festivals and ceremonies in Chapter II, and in Chapter III dealing with the 

Hindu components in Thai political theory, we find her exerting the same efforts. In 

Chapter IV, a careful comparison is made between the Ramakirti, the Thai Ramayana. 

and the Sanskrit Ramayana of Valmiki. The comparison sheds useful and interesting 

information with regard to differences in vario11:s aspects of the Thai Ramayana and 

ihe Ramayana of Valmiki. Chapter Vis even more interesting because here the Ramakirti 

is cOmpared with the non-Valmiki versions of the Rama story prevalent in India 

as weli as in other countries of South-east Asia, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, 

Laos and Cambodia. Finally, in Chapter VI, we have the authoress' conclusion of 

her Hinduism in Thai Life which sums up as follows: 

"Hinduism has .existed in Thailand in a syncre~istic relationship with Theravada 

Buddhism since the pre-Thai period (at least since the fifth century B.C.) •.•.... 

The roie of Hinduism, therefore, is subordinate and peripheral to Buddhism. Hinduism . 

exists not as a total tradition as it does in India; rather it is there in a piece-meal way, 

lacking in depth, structure, inner unity and cohesiveness. ...•.•.• But that Hinduism 

in this modified form is universally encountered and all pervasive in Thai life is, on 

the other hand, beyond question." 

Dr. Ainslie T. Embree, Professor of Indian Studies, Columbia University, in 

his foreword to the book, writes of the authoress as follows:

REVIEWS 161 

"In her (Prof. S.N. Desai's) writing, there is none of the cultural chauvinism 

that has characterized much writing of this kind, for she writes from a warm understanding 

of both Indian and Thai cultures that prevents her from making easy value 

judgements." 

The above view of Dr. Embree will be readily shared by anyone who goes 

through the book reflectively. 

Apart from the copious bibliography and glossary of Sanskrit terms, the book 

is furnished with useful appendices and an index. Notwithstanding typographical 

errors appearing in several places, Hinduism in Thai Life is heartily recommended to 

all those interested in the subject. 

Thai Bharat Lodge, and 

Silpakom University 

Karuna Kuaalasaya

Heinz Bechert, Editor, Die Sprache der altesten buddhistischen Vberlieferung. 

The Language of the Earliest Buddhist Tradition (Symposien zur Buddhismusforschung 

II) (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1980), 193 p. (Abhandlungen der 

Akademie der Wissenschaften in Gottingen, Philologisch-Historische Klasse. 

Folge 117). 

Dritte 

In contrast to the first symposium held under the auspices of the Academy 

of Sciences at Gottingen and organized by Heinz Bechert Bupdhism in Ceylon and 

Studies on Religious Syncretism in Buddhist Countries (1978), the second meeting has· 

concentrated on a much narrower and more precisely defined subject: the language of 

the earliest Buddhist tradition. Eight contributions, five in English, two in German and 

one in French, are framed by a general introduction to the subject and abstracts of the 

discussions that succeeded each paper. 

The "Introduction" and the "Allgemeine Bermerkungen" (General Remarks), 

both by Heinz Bechert, furnish an excellent guide to the present state of research 

reached and the methods applied in dealing with the problems of historical linguistics 

in early Buddhist texts. Within the twenty years since the posthumous publication of 

H. Liiders' {1869-1943) fundamental book Beobachtungen uber die Sprache des buddhistischen 

Urkanons (Observations on the language of the original Buddhist canon) 

(1954), the contents of which have been summed up conveniently in English by M.A. 

Mehendale, Some Aspects of Indo-Aryan Linguistics (1968), the idea of an original 

canon, from which all existing canonical Buddhist texts are derived somehow or other, 

has become more and more doubtful. Therefore the word "Urkanon" has been banished 

from the headline of this symposium, as it is dropped from the discussion on 

linguistic and literary problems. 

Thus the discussion focusses on· the means and ways of how to get a clearer 

picture of the lost language or languages at the time of the Buddha. One of the major 

difficulties, which has yet to be overcome, is the lack of an investigation similar to 

Li.iders' work into the earliest language used by the Jains. The articles of Ludwig 

Alsdorf (1904-1978), to whom this volume is dedicated, "Ardha-Magadhi" and of 

Colette Caillat "La Langue Primitive du Bouddhisme" (the original language ofBuddhism) 

deal with this aspect, while K.R. Norman "The Dialects in which the Buddha 

Preached" tries to reconstruct different dialects used by the Buddha on different occasions 

from the wording of parallel passages known from the Northern and Southern Buddhist 

traditions and showing a similar, but not an identical Text. At the same time he 

tries to revive the opinion of Hermann Oldenberg (1854-1920) that the home of Pali is 

162

REVIEWS 163 

to be found in Eastern rather than in Western India as generally assumed now. Both 

proposals met with some doubt and criticism at the conference as can be gathered from 

the discussion in the respective appendix to this volume (on the home and early history 

of Pili see also my forthcoming article "Pili as an Artificial Language" to be published 

in Indologica Taurinensia 9. 1982). 

John Brough again very carefully investigates the much debated sakkaya 

niruttiya and chandaso aropetulp in the Cullavagga of the Vinayapitaka with the result 

that the latter probably means "Vedic" especially in the light of the Chinese translations 

of the relevant pas~age. Later views on language held by the Buddhists themselves 

are examined by Akira Yuyama "Bu-ston on the Language Used by Indian Buddhists 

at the Schismatic Period". 

Finally Gustav Roth re-edited the Sanskrit version of the Dhammapada found 

in Tibet by Rihula Sank~tyiyana and preserved today in Patna thus superseding the 

earlier edition by N.S. Shukla (1979). This article also surveys the "Particular Features 

of the Language of the Arya-Mahasimghika-Lokottaravidins and Their Importance 

for Early Buddhist Tradition". Ernst Waldschmidt describes the present state of knowledge 

in the field of "Central Asian Siitra Fragments and Their Relation to the Chinese 

Agamas". This contribution also contains a re-edited text: the Mahasamija-siitra found 

at Turfan. 

The equally high standard of all articles and the brillant survey of the research 

done on this subject during the last two decades make this book indispensable reading 

for everybody who wants to work in the field of Pili or early Buddhist languages and 

literature in general. (A more detailed review by J.W. de Jong has appeared in the 

Indo-Iranian Journal 24, 1982, 215-218; a second one by myself discussing especially 

the relation of Pili and Vedic is forthcoming in lndogermanische Forschungen). 

Orientalisches Seminar 

Der Universitiit Freiburg- lndologie 

Oskar von Hinuber

Wl~l1')f'J'j~ti ( lh~~'VIi ~~~ 1~ ), 'ttlfifi1'i:ll QUlf~llf~~\ltUl~GJJtntlfl'l1lJ 

"' I "' "'' "I"~. I ~ "'' I 0 "' """"~ 

lJGJHrnu lil'jlJ 1 'VIff'U1 lJ'lfnJlJ1IJfJIJ'VI1 'l17a n~linlJ'lf1~ 

u n~~rufl H1'1'11llf'lf 'l(?) 

(The Venerable Phra Rajavaramuni (Payu!to), Buddhadhamma) (flru~l~~lJli'j'jlJ 

"'' ,j I "'' ,j ~.={ ) 

WlJW1NtJUWl WlJWfll\I'VI 1 fi~\11'VIW o'! W.ff. 2525-Bangkok, I 982 , pp. 940 

In 1971 the Textbook Project on Social Sciences and Humanities under the 

chairmanship of Dr. Puey Ungphakorn produced two big tomes as afestshcrift in honour 

of H.R.H. Prince Wan's 80th birthday anniversary. Among the scholars invited to 

write all those learned articles, there was only one monk, the Ven. P. Payutto who. was 

then Phra Srivisudhimoli, deputy secretary general of Maha Chulalongkorn Buddhist 

University. 

His writing 'Buddhadhamma' was the longest (206 pages) and was considered 

the best article in the two volumes. Hence he was invited to deliver it in a concised 

form as a special lecture on the Prince's birthday at Thammasat University's Auditorium. 

The article was later published separately as a book in itself. The book 

Buddhadhamma made a real impact on the Thai Buddhist community: for the first 

time Buddhism was explained with such clarity that even Thais who were trained 

traditionally in Buddhist monastic schools as well as those who were educated abroad 

both could easily understand it. They found it beautifully written and extremely 

stimulating. 

Since then the book had been reprinted on a number of occasions, especially 

for free distribution at cremation ceremonies. Most Buddhist clubs at various univer 

sities prescribed the book as a handbook for those who wished to study the Dhamma 

seriously. 

In the first edition, the learned author only explained two main parts of Buddhism 

namely (1) The Principles concerning the Truth which is the core of Nature, and 

(2) The Middle Path, or the way of practice to reach the ulti~ate truth. Yet each 

part is explained with such profundity. For instance, in the first part, he began by 

asking 'What is Life?' Then_ he explained the five aggregates in detail and with rationality 

so that those who had no knowledge of Buddhism would be able to understand 

the Buddhist analysis of the so called 'Mind and Body' into Corporeality, Feeling or 

Sensation, Perception, Mental Formations or Volitional Activities and Consciousness. 

This is the basic concept in Buddhism which is much misunderstood not only in the 

West but in this country as well. This section in itself is worth translating into English. 

Another question the author posed was 'How is Life?' and he answered this by 

explaining the Three Signs of Impermanence, Conflict and Non-self or Soullessness. 

To understand this, again, is to understand the essential teaching of the Buddha concerning 

the universe and it natural phenomena, including the so-called self. 

164

REVIEWS 165 

The author then asked 'How life comes into being?' and he answered this by 

explaining the Law of Dependent Origination or Conditionality. This is the essence 

of Buddhist philosophy, which denies the First Cause or the Causa Causan. This law 

is the most difficult and the most profound. One Supreme Patriarch of the Thai Sangha . 

even admitted that he could not understand this properly. All schools of Buddhism 

.stress and explain this law or principle. In Theravada Buddhism alone, there are so 

many commentaries and sub-commentaries on this. If one understands this thoroughly, 

then one would appreciate the Middle Path and could really proclaim oneself a true 

Buddhist. Otherwise one could easily fall into a trap, emphasising such as Extreme 

Realism, Nihilism, Eternalism, Annihilationism, Self-Generationism or Karmic Autogenesisism. 

Unfortunately, too many so-called Buddhists in this country make one of 

these errors. 

Among contemporary Thai Bhikkhus, the Venerable Buddhadasa and the Venerable 

P. Payutto seem to be among the very few who could explain this very delicate 

law for a wide audience. Both rely heavily on Pali canonical works of the Buddha 

more than on commentaries or sub-commentaries, although they also consult them. 

Part 2 dealt with guidelines for practice in order that life could be led in accordance 

to the Middle Path, i.e. all would be harmonious according to the law of 

nature. 

The author began by asking 'What should life be?' He then answered the 

question by explaining the Noble Eightfold Path in detail. Right and wrong views as 

well as right and wrong practices were stressed and explained clearly. Within less than 

one hundred pages, the author managed to present these very delicate matters to readers 

in a clear and concise manner. His explanation was orthodox yet so rational and 

convincing that one could not help but marvel at his grasp of the Dhamma and the 

lucid way in which he expounded it. 

The first edition ended here, although the author felt that the complete Buddhadhamma 

should consist of two more parts, namely - Part 3 : dealing with liberation 

i.e. the meaning of life after the ultimate end. What would be the meaning and 

condition of that ultimate end, as well as its value for those who achieved that state; 

Part 4: the practical purpose of the Middle Path i.e. how should individuals and 

society function by applying these Principles for daily life both for carrying out daily 

activities as well as for educating members of the younger generation in order that all 

could live together as happily and harmoniously as possible. 

The learned author has since been promoted by H.M. the King to his present 

title-Phra Rajavaramuni (the Best Sage for the Sovereign). He was invited to teach 

once at Swarthmore College and once at Harvard University. Although he resigned 

from the abbotship of his monastery at Wat Prapirendra in Bangkok and from the

166 S. Sivaraksa 

deputy general-secretaryship at his Buddhist University in order to fulfill his wishes in 

completing the book, he was unable to do so for a decade, partly because of his 

commitments to other writings and to his duty as a monk in helping laymen in their 

spiritual needs. Besides, he was not in good health. 

So it was a great joy to most of us when the complete and revised edition of 

Buddhadhamma was published in 1982. Despite difficulties and imperfections in printing 

as well as a lack of index (which is very crucial), I, for one, feel that the book is 

certainly the most welcome event in the Thai publishing context. As for all the minu~ 

points they could easily be overcome in. the next edition which, one is certain, will be 

soon. Indeed its publication this year is a very good omen too as it coincides with the 

two hundredth anniversary of Bangkok. It should be translated (even in a concised 

form) into English. Then it would be the best gift from Siam to the world, as the 

Buddha says, the gift of Dhamma is the best gift of all. 

So many farangs attempt to understand Thai Buddhism through existing academic 

disciplines. With this book, anyone can understand Theravada Buddhism about 

as well as the best contemporary Thai Buddhist scholar. I feel this is the best single 

volume on Buddhism ever written in any language. 

The Three Worlds of King Ruang offerred the best explanation of Buddhism 

during the Sukhothai period, which unfortunately was distorted for the purpose of the 

ruling elite. Kijjanuktj was the best expose of the Thai worldview of the last century 

which Chao Phya Divakaravamsa relied heavily on for his understanding of Buddhism 

to show that we were not inferior to the farang, especially after so many attacks by 

missionaries. Alabaster put forward the essence of Kijjanukij in his book The Wheel 

of the Law. Unf.Jrtunately King Mongkut never wrote his magnum opus on Buddhism. 

His son, the Prince Patriarch Vajirafiana, wrote many books on many aspets of Buddhism, 

but he never wrote a single volume on the whole Buddhist Philosophy and its 

practice like this one. Let us· hope therefore that someone will do justice to Buddhadhamma 

soon, by translating it into English. 

In the 1982 edition of Buddhadhamma, the Venerable author did not divide 

the book into 4 parts. In fact, he still divided it into 2 main parts as previously, but 

he more or less answered all the points which he felt should be answered. The subtitle 

Buddhadhamma still remains the same-The Law of Nature and Its Values for Life. 

However, he expanded it sixfold. 

In this edition, the author still referred to Pali texts-not only to the Thai and 

Roman scripts but also to the Burmese edition. He also consulted and sometimes 

contradicted English books on Buddhism by giving definite and precise points when he 

was sure that those authors had gone wrong. Yet he does so in an inoffensive manner.

REVIEWS 167 

In part I, the first chapter dealing with the Five Aggregates has been much 

expanded, especially in dealing with memory and mindfulness, as well as with consciousness 

and knowledge. At the end of this chapter and of every chapter the author 

always refers to ethical values on that topic. And at every chapter, there is an appendix 

for scholars who wish to pursue some points further. 

Chapter 2 deals with the six senses-doors (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and 

mind) and the three channels of action (bodily, speech, mind). This is an addition. 

Chapters 3 and 4 deal with the Three Signs and Dependent Origination as in 

the first edition, but Chapter 4 is much expanded by referring to the Nikayas as well as 

the Abhidhamma, since there has been much controversy lately among Thai Buddhist 

scholars on this very topic and the Ven. Buddhadasa was the centre of this controversial 

issue. Perhaps this Chapter will help to clarify the issue. 

Chapter 5, dealing with Karma, is a long addition to the new edition. As the 

Law of Karma is very important and is usually misunderstood, it is quite right that the 

learned author spends much time explaining the law of act and result or moral laws 

(karmic laws). He differentiates this from (1) law of energy or law of physical phenomena, 

(2) law of hereditary or biological laws, (3) psychic law or psychological laws, 

and (4) the general law of cause and effect, or order of the norm. 

This Chapter has been thoroughly explained with long quotations from the 

Discourses of the Buddha, since it deals with the Theory of Rebirth too. Without proper 

understanding, one could easily commit the wrong view of past lives and future livesnot 

to mention the prevailing misconception ~1fit~t®~ (doing good without any good 

result). The author explains about good, goodness, good result etc. with lucidity. 

Anyone who has read G.B. Moore's Principia Ethica will appreciate the Buddhist approach 

to ethical language. 

The first five chapters in Part I have been divided into 3 sections: 

(1) What is Life? 

{2) How is Life? 

(3) How Life comes into being? 

This is on the main the same as in the first edition. 

In this new edition, the author adds section ( 4) How Life should be? Chapter 

6 deals with Knowledge, Liberation, Purity, Peace and Nirvana. Chapter 7 deals with 

the state and stages of those who achieve Nirvana. Chapter 8 deals with the practice 

in order to achieve various stages of Nirvana-i.e. Mindfulness of Calm, Insight, Liberation 

through the Mind and Liberation through Wisdom. Chapter 9 explains the 

main principles in helping one to achieve Nirvana. And Chapter 10 concludes about 

Nirvana.


Chapters 6 to 10 are the most profound and difficult. Those who have difficulty 

in reading The Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga}, The Path of Liberation (Vimuttimagga) 

and Questions of King Milinda will find these chapters a great help. For 

those who come across serious Buddhism for the first time, if they understand the first 

5 chapters or have read the first edition of Buddhadhamma thoroughly, they will understand 

and appreciate these five chapters better. 

Chapter 11 to 15 are called 'Additional Articles' starting with explaining about 

life and basic quality of the four divisions of the Noble Disciples: Stream Enterer, 

Once-Returner, Non-Returner and the Worthy One (Arahant}. An appendix on this 

chapter deals especially with Dana or Generosity, which is the first step in practising 

Buddhism. 

Chapters 12, which is still in section 4, deals with Morality and Society. This 

chapter is very relevant especially for those who think Buddhism only dealt with individual 

salvation. In fact this chapter explains clearly social responsibility of those who 

study and practise Buddhadhamma. The Buddhist concept of development is also dealt 

with. 

Chapter 13 deals with "extraordinariness", beyond ordinary perception, such as 

miracles and other beings, like ghosts and gods or other worlds, subjects which those 

who want to make Buddhism rational often tend to overlook. Yet the author explains 

this rationally just as he explains other matters and phenomena. · This is according to 

the canonical Texts as expounded by the Buddha himself, indeed it is The Miracle of 

Being Awake as Thich Nhat Hanh puts it. 

Chapter 14 deals with Motive or Aspiration for Moral life. This is particularly 

interesting because it is this idea that is most often subject to misinterpretation. Because 

the Buddha taught us to get rid of craving, people think that in order to be detached, 

one must not have any incentive, one should sit still and be inactive. Nothing is further 

from the truth. The whole Buddhist threefold training on Morality, Mindfulness 

and Wisdom is in fact to set one in the right frame of mind for proper action. 

Indeed the path of accomplishment or basis for success, both for worldly gains 

and spiritual attainments, must begin with willingness or proper motivation. Then 

one must direct one's energy, effort or exertion toit. After that one must use active 

thought, or apply thoughtfulness to each action-whether mind, speech or body. In addition, 

investigation, testing, examination or reasoning are needed in order to accomplish 

the desired result.

REVIEWS 169 

Chapter 15 deals with Happiness in its various aspects and levels. 

It starts 

with the ·sensual realm which could actually be harmful, to non-sensual happiness 

which could be attaifled through the practice of mindfulness in various aspects of 

Jhanic meditation, for instance, the First Three Absorptions include Happiness, whereas 

the Fourth Absorption only has two qualities-Equinimity and one-pointedness of mind. 

One must realize of course that Buddhism wants to lead those who practise Dhamma to 

walk on beyond Happiness to Liberation. 

Part II of the new edition starts with Chapter 16, which has a long introduction 

on the Middle Path or the Noble Eightfold Path. 

Having understood the map of the Middle Path, one is ready to walk along the 

way, and the essential element for the wayfarer is Good Friends. 

Indeed the Buddha 

regards himself only as a Good Friend who could but point out the way. 

At this 

stage, one should hear or learn from others or be induced by others-namely Good 

Friends who know the Path and who could point out the way. 

and meditation masters can all be regarded as Good Friends. 

Bhikkhus, teachers 

Once one is convinced of the way, one has faith or confidence to walk on that 

path. The whole of chapter 17 deals with Good Friends in all aspects. 

18 deals with directing one's thoughts in order to develop wise consideration. 

Then Chapter 

If chapter 17 deals with counsel or advice from others, then this chapter deals 

with developing one's own frame of mind. In Buddhism, these twin aspects are crucial 

prerequisites for the noble life. 

of Buddhism as clearly as is done in this book. 

To me, no one has explained those two main pillars 

Chapter 19 deals with wisdom, i.e. Right View and Right Thought. 

Chapter 

20 deals with Morality i.e. Right Speech, Right Action and Right Livelihood. Social 

aspects are taken into full co~sideration. 

Chapter 21 is about Mindfulness or the rest 

of the Noble Eightfold Path, namely Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration. 

This chapter in itself can be a useful handbook for intellectuals who wish 

to practise meditation, as it gives the theoretical framework as well as good guidelines 

for putting theory into practice. 

The last chapter-chapter 22-summarises the whole Buddhadhamma in its 

essence, namely the Four Noble Truths. 

The reader who pursues the book to its end will surely understand Buddhism 

much more thoroughly.


The book will make a new person of the reader. Even if he still clings to his 

'self' and may not be much better spiritually, he will surely have a new and deep understanding 

of the Buddha and his teachings. Non-Buddhists who read this book need 

not be converted but would appreciate Buddhism better as a philosophy, a religion and 

a noble way of life. 

This book may thus be proclaimed as the best expose of the whole corpus of 

essential teaching of Theravada Buddhism in Thai ever written. 

Asian Cultural Forum on Development. 

Bangkok 

S. Sivaraksa

Dialogue, Vol. 8 : Buddhist-Christian Renewal and the Faith of Humanity 

(Ecumenical Institute for Study & Dialogue, Colombo~ Sri Lanka, 1981) 

Buddhist-Christian Studies, Vol. 1 (East-West Religions Project, University 

of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1981) 

These two volumes have been published as a result of the international conference 

of religious students, scholars, and teachers held at the University of Hawaii in 

June 1980 and sponsored by the University of Hawaii Department of Religion, the 

Hawaii Council of Churches, and the Hawaii Buddhist Council. 

Dialogue contains seven papers presented at the conference, each emphasizing 

the new awareness resulting from interfaith dialogue between Buddhism and Christianity: 

1. "Interfaith Dialogue as a Source of Christian-Buddhist Renewal: Creative 

Transformation" by Paul 0. Ingram. The encounter between divergent beliefs can serve 

as a source for spiritual renewal. Interfaith dialogue presents an opportunity for greater 

knowledge and insight when we relate to one another based on our common humanity 

as persons, not merely through such abstract labels as "Christian", "Buddhist", 

"Hindu", or "Muslim". 

2. "Reformist Buddhism in Thailand, Bhikkhu Buddhadasa" by Donald K. 

Swearer and Sulak Sivaraksa*. Bhikkhu Buddhadasa, a controversial reformist monk, 

reinterprets the Buddha's tc!achings according to contemporary life. This article 

explains the basic structure of his philosophy, the reformulation of basic Theravada 

teachings, and his critique of Thai Buddhism. 

3. "Dialogue: Spiritual Transformation", by Donald K. Swearer, examines the 

life and teachings of two modern religious spokesmen : Thich Nhat Hanh and Thomas 

Merton. 

4. "Buddha, Man and God", by Hsueh-li-Chang, presents a discussion of 

Buddhism in relation to the existence of a theistic god. 

Additional essays include: 

5. "The Ethic of the Dhammapada and the Sermon on the Mount" by Roy C. 

Amore; 

6. "Dialogue of World Religions" by Arvind Sharma; 

7. "Mother Teresa's Boundless Compassion and Voluntary Poverty: An Evaluation 

by a Buddhist" by Neville Gunaratne. 

Buddhist-Christian Studies, a scholarly journal based on historical research 

and contemporary religious practice, has evolved in response to the enthusiasm generated 

from the University of Hawaii conference. The first annual issue consists of nine 

papers: 

* This article was reprinted as a booklet by Suksit Siam, Bangkok, to mark the 50th anniversary 

of Suan Mokh (The Garden of Liberation) which was created by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu on 27 

May 1932. 

171

172 Terry A. Silver 

1. "A Framework for Buddhist-Christian Dialogue" by Donald K. Swearer. 

A radical, personal transformation and acceptance of moral responsibility for the 

welfare of humankind is central to both Buddhism and Christianity. 

2. "Buddhist-Christian Dialogue: Past, Present and Future" by Masao Abe and 

John Cobb (interviewed by Bruce Long). The establishment of a spiritual foundation 

for the realization of a deeper religious dimension can be attained only by cutting 

through "innate" conceptual and cultural patterns. This article mentions some of the 

difficulties regarding the character of the contemporary Buddhist-Christian encounter. 

3. "The Pluralistic Situation and . the Coming Dialogue Between the World 

Religions" by Peter Berger. The religions of modern technological society must 

progress beyond mere tolerance of one another and inquire into the deeper truth that 

underlies them. The Buddhist-Christian dialogue provides an immense challenge for 

attempting to answer the most profound questions of human existence. 

Additional essays include: 

4. "Christians, Buddhists and Manichaeans in Medieval Central Asia" by 

Hans-J. Klimkeit; 

Siegel; 

5. "Bengal Blackie and the Sacred Slut: A Sahajayana Buddhist Song" by Lee 

6. "Buddhist Attitudes toward Women's Bodies" by Diana Y. Paul; 

7. "Feminism from the Perspective of Buddhist Practice" by Rita Gross; 

8. "The Cloud of Unknowing and the Mumonkan: Christian and Buddhist 

Meditation Methods" by Robert Aitken; 

9. "The Cloud of Unknowing and the Buddhist Logic of Not-Two" by Masaaki 

Honda. 

"We have arrived at the most serious crisis point the civilized world has ever 

known. Threatened by overpopulation and food shortages, the possibility of widespread 

chemical contamination, the prospect of atomic holocaust, international political 

confrontation, and the dissolution of traditional communal structures and values, some 

reel in confusion, others react with mindless violence, while still others, anticipating the 

apocalypse, retreat to self-sufficient exis~ence cut off from a world apparently gone 

insane."l Dialogue and Buddhist-Christian Studies provide a challenge for those 

seeking a deeper and more complete spiritual reality. It is hoped that both journals 

will continue to explore the depths of interfaith dialogue and human consciousness as 

exemplified by these two issues. 

Terry A. Silver 

1. Donald K. Swearer, "Dialogue: Spiritual Transformation" (Dialogue, Vol. 8, p. 52).

Roy C. Amore, Two Masters, One Message (Abingdon, Nashville), pp. 186. 

Professor Roy C. Amore, with much intellectual ingenuity, attempts herein to 

prove that the New Testament was strongly influenced by Buddhism. He cites the 

striking similarities in the biographies of the Buddha and Jesus; their comparable lifestyles; 

the compatability of the two masters' teaching; the shared message. Further 

correspondences can be seen in their efforts to communicate this message through the 

working of miracles and teaching through similes, parables. He then, with a dramatic 

flair, presents the thesis that Matthew and Luke in their Gospels drew on a "Sayings 

Source", Q, which incorporated Buddhist teachings and was partially influenced by the 

biography of the Buddha. The author points to the Buddhistic content of the temptation 

of Jesus; the Sermon on the Mount; the invocations of Jesus to love your enemies; 

judge not; and overcome anger. The author places especial emphasis on the very 

Buddhistic account of the birth of Jesus found solely in the Gospel of Luke and the 

inclusion in Luke of the greatest number of Buddhist sayings. The author closes his 

presentation expressing the conviction that Jesus drew upon Buddhist, as well as Jewish 

concepts and images, and that the Buddhist presence in Christianity continued after 

Jesus' death. 

While the author's thesis is provocative and challenging, it is not entirely 

convincing. There is no doubt as to the striking similarities in the ethical teachings, 

parables, metaphors and similes used; the miracles performed; the birth and infancy 

narratives and Iifestyl~s of the Buddha and Jesus. 

However, the author only fleetingly 

refers to the specific means through which such actual contact between Buddhist 

teachers and both the Q community and with Jesus and his disciples and followers 

might have been established e.g. sea and land trade routes, commercial contacts, 

archaeological evidence etc. 

Perhaps, of more significance, the author neglects to analyze the equally 

provocative writings of Sir James George Frazer, Carl Gustav Jung and Joseph Campbeli 

who, each from their different perspectives, argue the universality of the World 

Savior mythology and stress the universally recurrent patterns of human thought (the 

psychological, as well as biological and social, characteristics, common to all man), 

first evidenced in myths, which find expression in the masterpieces of world literature 

as well as in the philosophical teachings of religious mystics. It is the hero, the World 

Savior, who plumbs the depths of the "mythical consciousness", the "collective unconsciouspess"; 

who overcomes illusion and ignorance after the adventurous quest, suffering, 

release. Carl Jung refers to "archetypes", Adolf Bastian to "Elementary Ideas". The 

173

174 William J. Klausner 

tradition of "subjectively known forms" (Sanskrit : antarjfieyariipa) is co-extensive 

with the tradition of myth. The mythologists point to 'a set of symbols common to 

all communities throughout time; to recurrent themes of guilt, fear, anxiety; to cyclic 

patterns of withdrawal and return; death and rebirth; guilt and expiation; sacrificial 

suffering; propitiation and initiation rites common to all people from time immemorial. 

Campbell speaks of the imagery shared by the two religious traditions, Christianity and 

Buddhism, as being older than both: serpent, tree, garden of immortality, all described 

in the earliest cuneiform texts and old Sumerian cylinder seals, in the art and rites of 

primitive cultures. 

Campbell also refers to the enlightenment of the Buddha under 

the Bo tree as the most important moment in Oriental mythology. He cites it as a 

counterpart to the Crucifixion of Christianity. He sees Buddha under the Bo tree and 

Christ on Holy Rood (Tree of Redemption) as analogous figures, incorporating an 

archetypal World Savior, World Tree motif, which is of immemorial antiquity. Other 

variants of the theme may be found in the Immovable Spot and Mount Calvary as 

images of the World Navel, or World Axis of mythology. He further contends that 

productions and projections of the psyche evolve from man's imagination in th~ same 

mythological motifs throughout the world i.e. myths and legends of Virgin Birth, 

Incarnations, Resurrections. 

Thus, in the language of anthropology, cannot the similarities and correspondences 

between Buddhism and Christianity which Professor Amore attributes, in 

diffusionist terms, to Buddhist influence on Christianity be rather seen as the result of 

independent development or parallelism ? Both Buddhism and Christianity may well 

·have independently drawn on mythic patterns and motifs, recurrent themes and imagery 

and a common set of symbols, universal projections of the psyche. Drawing from a 

common well of hero and Savior myths and legends and mirror reflections of biological, 

psychological and social characteristics common to all man, it is not surprising that 

similar patterns of birth. lifestyle, ethical teaching, miracles, parables, would emerge in 

the religious traditions of Buddhism and Christianity. As cultural form has limits set 

by natural conditions which makes for resemblances i.e. the law of limited possibilities, 

so too do the life and teachings of the religious mystics, culture heroes, World Saviors 

evidence striking correspondences. In the transformation of man's consciousness and 

achieving purity of mind; in liberating truth from the illusion of the individual ego; in 

overcoming ignorance, does not the law of limited possibilities also apply?* Sir James 

Frazer, in his seminal work "The Golden Bough", eloquently outlined this thesis: '"We 

* At the same time, it must be appreciated that the cosmology and epistemology of the two 

religious traditions, Buddhism and Christianity, are distinctly different.

REVIEWS 175 

need not .... suppose that the Western peoples borrowed from the older civilization of 

the Orient the conception of the Dying and Reviving God, together with solemn ritual, 

in which that conception was dramatically set forth before the eyes of the worshippers. 

More probably the resemblance which may be traced in this respect between the religions 

of the East and West is no more than what we commonly, though incorrectly, call a 

fortuitous coincidence, the effect of similar causes acting alike on the similar constitution 

of the human mind in different countries and under different skies." 

Thus, Professor Amore, as a religious diffusionist, visualizes "Two Masters, 

One Message"; Campbell, Frazer, Jung, as exponents of mythic and psychic parellelism, 

visualize "The Hero With a Thousand Faces", the title of Campbell's brilliant, though 

controversial, treatise. 

Professor Amore's well reasoned, succinct and challenging argument in this 

work should provoke readers to begin their own historical journey and exploration to 

seek the truth as to linkages, or their absence, in the great religious traditions of 

Buddhism and Christianity. 

Chulalongkorn University 

William J. Klausner

Antony Fernando, Buddhism and Christianity: Their Inner Affinity (Colombo, 

Ecumenical Institute for Study and Dialogue, 1981) 

One of the evidences of the positive nature of religious pluralism is the increasing 

number of very helpful basic guides to the comparative study of Buddhism and 

Christianity, Dr. Antony Fernando's book is such a guide. It is one in a series of 

thoughtful publications from the Ecumenical Institute for Study and Dialogue in 

Colombo, Sri Lanka. 

At each step of interpretation, Fernando suggests a few carefully chosen parallels 

to the Christian faith. His purpose is to write a guide to Buddhism for Christians. 

To those already acquainted with the rudiments of Buddhism, basing a major part of a 

hook on the four noble truths may seem elementary, but the author manages to approach 

his subject with freshness arid insight. For advanced students he provides sufficient 

technical terms and depth to provide a helpful review. Dr. Fernando also is 

careful to offer enough social and historical material to give some sense of the context 

and development of. Buddhist teaching. Particularly interesting are his references to 

the place of laypersons in early J3uddhism. He emphasizes the anti-ascetical and 

anti-ritualistic aspects of the Buddha's teaching. His clarification of the levels of 

meaning of karma and samsara provide needed corrective to popular usage. He points 

to the teaching of the Ven. Buddhadasa of Thailand to indicate the present "here and 

now" emphasis of karma and samsara. 

Fernando proposes a reconception of Nirvana in modern terminology. After 

working his way through the old terminology and imagery, he suggests that, "Nirvana 

denotes a well developed personality or 'humanhood' in its ideal form". (p. 42). Earlier 

he comments that "This vitality of the Nirvanic personality comes from the very 

power of dharma or the power of truth and goodness to which he adheres." (p. 40) 

Whether this modernization of nirvana is an adequate restatement may be questioned, 

but it indicates the bold strokes that the author makes in his interpretation. His exposition 

of mindfulness and concentration are clear and include very practical illustrations. 

This is useful in approaching the sometimes very complex psychology of Buddhism. 

Fernando draws a parallel of Buddhist mindfulness to the New Testament 

"expectation of the Parmisia" or the imminent coming of Christ. This is an interesting 

but surely questionable comparison. Would it have been more fruitful to look for 

affinity with the mystical tradition in Christianity? Maybe that has been overworked. 

His description of Buddhist meditation is clear and concise. 

The author recognizes the difference between Jesus' sense of personal relationship 

to God and Buddha's criticism of the Hindu conventional belief and practices 

concerning gods. In suggesting that Jesus' emphasis was a "behavioral acknowledge- 

176

REVIEWS 177 

ment" of God, Fernando indicates the common emphasis on anti-ritualism and the 

quality of personal transformation in both faiths. 

"Both have one common aim : to 

awaken people to a sense of realism and responsibility in their day to day life". (p. 98) 

The author carefully works through the experimental dimension of the Christian 

faith in God, the forgivenness of God and Jesus' teaching of man's relatedness to 

man. He holds as a hope that persons may genuinely benefit from both religions. "It 

is quite possible that as forms of personality upliftment the two systems have elements 

that are complimentary to each other" (p. 109). The Christian need not compete with 

the Buddhist but should collaborate with him. 

Fernando has penetrated the deeper meaning of both faiths and the book is 

very illuminating for the Christian exploring Buddhist teaching. 

reflections on his own faith. 

It will also assist in 

It may be that not all the examples of "inner affinity" 

are adequate, but the book as a whole is an important and very helpful contribution to 

the dialogue between the faiths. 

Department of Religion, 

University of Hawaii, 

Honolulu 

Robert Bohilin

C.F. Keyes (ed), Ethnic Adaptation and Identity (Insitute for the Study of 

Human Issues, Philadelphia, 1979) 

A witty, elegant collection of essays about the Karen of the Thai-Burmese 

frontier areas, edited and introduced by Charles Keyes. who also supplies a chapter on 

Karen ethnohistory. Other contributors, several of whose papers circulated for some 

time before the book was printed, include Lehman and Hinton, K unstadter, Ijima, Stern 

and Marlowe. An interesting mixture of history and ethnography, the work makes a 

major theoretical contribution to the debate about ambivalent ethnicity initiated by 

Leach's work on the Kachin 1 • Many of the papers focus on what Lehman sees as the 

equivalence of cultural change with 'a change in ethnicity, an alteration in identity'. 

Thus Marlowe compares the way British colonial policy in Burma defined a hierarchically 

ordered state in terms of locality and culture, to recent changes in the state's 

conception which, in the North of Thailand, have meant a schism in the hierarchy 

which once encompassed Karen identity as part of the domain of Chiang Mai. The 

resultant 'loss of their status as holders of the wild for the 'sown' 'has deprived the 

Karen of any political power in the real world. Similarly Ijima examines the impact 

of wet rice agriculture on traditionally swiddening groups of Sgaw Karen in Mae Sariang, 

which has transformed land tenure patterns and the social relations arising from them, 

resulting in the abandonment of the long house as settlements have become more 

permanent. Ijima emphasises the religious basis of Karen ethnicity, which, organised 

around the ancestral spirits of matrilineal kin groups, has survived such changes, 

demarcating a continuum for the Sgaw Karen from the tribal, consanguineally based 

society more associated with the hills, to the peasant community, based on territorial 

criteria and oriented towards the plains. 

Stern too shows how the Pwo Karen of Sangkhlaburi 

have forsaken the joint lineal community in 'their adjustment to a cash 

economy, and examines the place of the Pwo language as a marker of cultural identity 

by comparison with three other communities. From a survey of some historical data, 

he concludes that the Pwo are 'far from a people exposed for the first time to the impact 

of a lowland civiliza tion', but represent an accommodation between Mon and Thai 

interests, currently readapting towards the latter. 

Many of the writers complain of the injustice with which the Karen are often 

classed with recent migrants to the hills such as the Hmong. 

As Keyes puts it, the 

new ethnic label of chao khao, extended to include the Karen, falsely stigmatises them 

as invariably upland swiddeners, opium cultivators and recent migrants, and he also 

draws attention to the potential 'explosiveness' of the lack of (citizenship rights in the 

1. Leach: Political Systems of Highland Burma (1954) 

178

REVIEWS 179 

hills. 

Kunstadter's paper, describing the heterogeneity of relationships between Lua' 

and Karen, Karen and Khonmuang groups, also refers to the increasing land shortage 

in the area, accelerated by lowland immigration up into the hills, which has caused the 

Hmong to oust the Karen from their fields with no legal redress, and deplores the official 

tendency to 'lump' Karen in the same category as Hmong. 

Millenialism is, as Keyes observes, frequently an attempt to restructure or 

'come to grips with radical structural change', and he shows how the Christian conversions 

of Karen, both in Burma and Thailand, had the effect of 'strengthening the 

ethnic boundaries between Karen and others' (p. 21). Hinton's paper examines in some 

detail the role of millenialism as an accommodation to lowland states, based on an earlier 

work of Stern's2, describing how Baptist missionaries in the early 19th century were 

taken to be the fulfillment of an old Karen prophecy about the return of a white, 

younger brother who had taken away a golden book 'containing all the secrets of 

literacy wealth and power' denied to th!' Karen, and how this precipitated a rebellion 

against Burmese hegemony. 

Hinton suggests that such cults, which survive among the 

Karen to this day, together with the influence of Khae Chae Uae3 in the hills (a defrocked 

Buddhist monk, disciple of the Khruba Siwicai who was a symbol of resistance to 

the centralised control of the North during the '20"s), made an appeal to the national 

sentiment of the Karen, which has to be understood, like the influence of the KND0 4 

in Burma, as a response to their harsh political realities. 

This is expressed in folk tales 

which cast the Karen as the perpetual orphan, always missing out on the opportunities 

presented to others, myths of insecurity in face of an increasingly hostile world. 

Lehman's concluding paper draws many of these threads together, and is 

perhaps the most important of the collection. 

Examining linguistic and archaeological 

evidence which suggests contacts between Tai and Karen well before the l~te 

century, and pointing out that the Burmese-Thai wars would surely have involved some 

relocation of the Karen, Lehman is led to differentiate importantly between an 'ethnic 

category, and 'the ethnolinguistic grouping' to which it may, at different times, refer. 

The issue of whether a category such as 'Karen' was of old standing in Thailand has to 

be separated from the issue of whether the present Karen population has ancient roots 

in Thailand. 

18th 

This is a most important point, possibly the most important in the book, 

since it allows some credence to be given to folk memories of the past as well as often 

2. Stern : 'Ariya and the Golden Book : A Millenarian Buddhist Sect Among the Karen' Journal 

of Asian Sludies 27 (2): 297-328 (1968) 

3. (Alias) Khruba Khao. 

4. Karen National Defense Organisation.


scant official records. 

Lehman re-examines some of the evidence for supposing that the 

Kayah (Karenni) emerged out of a mixed Shan-Karen polity somewhere before the end 

of the 18th century, associated with various Buddhist messianic movements and concludes 

that 'an overall pattern of adaptation to non-Karen people . . .. has characterized 

the general category of Karen', proffering a cognitive view of ethnicity and the various 

taxonomic constraints under which it is defined. Although the views of ethnicity range 

from Lehman's to Marlowe's emphasis on behavioural features, with Ijima emphasising 

religious and Stern linguistic factors, the contributors are united by a common agreement 

that ethnicity, especially where the Karen are concerned, is not something fixed, 

bounded, or static, but dynamic, mobile, relative and closely associated with processes 

of sociocultural change. 

Nicholas Tapp 

School of Oriental & African Studies, 

London University

Jacques Lemoine (with the assistance of Donald Gibson), Yao Ceremonial 

Paintings (White Lotus Company Ltd., Bangkok, 1982). 168 pp. 

A beautiful book, for the art collector and historian as well as the scholar, 

with more than 280 well-reproduced colour prints which do full justice to the rich 

sheen characteristic of Yao paintings, achieved through a glue base made from boiling 

the hide of an ox. 

Now that full sets of these paintings, ideally numbering 17, have 

in many cases been broken up and dispersed after the flight of impoverished Yao 

refugees from Laos, the work is additionally valuable in compiling information on the 

dating and background of individual sets, and identification of the figures they portray. 

The paintings illustrate the pantheon of Yao deities and episodes from their 

mythological history, and as paintings have a purely religious function. 

Usually 

commissioned by well to do families from priests or itinerant Chinese artists, they were 

executed in a specially consecrated place; in a partitioned room or outhouse, the walls 

of which had been pasted over with white paper and covered with cloth. 

During the 

one or two months it took for the work to be completed, strict celibacy was enjoined on 

all the inhabitants of the house to ensure the spiritual purity of the work finally 

produced. This in turn was considered to contribute to its aesthetic beauty. As 

Lemoine puts it (p. 36), 'A similar beauty and sense of piety illuminates the Italian 

primitives of the duecento'. The paintings are only exhibited on ritual occasions, such 

as the mass ordinations at which young men are admitted to the various grades of the 

Yao priesthood, as iconographic representations fulfilling the part played by idols and 

statuary in other cultures. 

Each painting has 'a position and a role to play in the 

rituals' (p. 42), and on the ownership of a certain number of them depends progress 

through the ranks of the pries.thood, and ultimate salvation for oneself and one's family. 

When they are not so exhibited, the scrolls are carefully stored in basket-work boxes 

to one side of the domestic altar (p. 34). 

The author's identification of the Yao religion as a branch of Taoism allows 

him to embark on an entrancing excursion into the mythological origins of the Yao as 

illustrated in the paintings, such as the myth of P'an Hu, the five-coloured palace 

dog who was allowed to marry one of the Chinese Emperor's daughters as a reward for 

defeating his enemies, from whose six sons and daughters the 12 Yao clans trace their 

descent. 

The Charter in which this legend was inscribed granted the Yao in China 

traditional exemption from the duties of taxation and corvee military labour, as well as 

the freedom to cultivate 'by the sword and fire' (i.e. by swidden agriculture) 'all the 

mountains of the Empire' (p. 13). 

As Lemoine notes, early colonists in Laos and 

181


Vietnam were handed versions of this document by the Yao, and the story it enshrines 

is the reason why the eating of dog is today taboo for the Yao, and why the traditional 

wedding veil should cover the bride's head 'as a device to hide from her the bestiality 

of the groom'. 

Their voyage across the sea from China after a great drought has become a 

second origin myth for the Yao, and this too is illustrated in the paintings. Thus the 

paintings provide a full graphic model of the Yao cosmology, seen in Taoist terms to 

begin with the origins of creation from the expansion of the body of the cosmic man 

after death. The text examines and explores this cosmology. Also illustrated are 

many culture heroes and Chinese deities, besides the father of historical Taoism, the 

Celestial Master Chang, who (p. 75) founded a theocratic state in the Western Marches 

of the decaying Han Empire after his researches into alchemy had resulted in the 

discovery of the Pill of Immortality, where among Han and tribal people a doctrine 

was taught which attributed illness and suffering to immoral behaviour, expiable 

through priestly confession. 

Today similar sets of paintings are in use among Chinese 

Taoist priests of the Taiwan area, and the book also illustrates various aspects of Yao 

religious and ceremonial life, as well as providing information on the life circumstances 

and village situations of the Yao today, showing why, how and where the paintings are 

exhibited and what part they play in the spiritual comrpunity of the Yao. 

Thus there 

is also material on the masks and wreaths depicting the gods which are worn by priests 

at rituals. Altogether an absorbing work, and one which throws much ethnographic 

light on an insufficiently known and currently fragmented culture. 

Niclto/as Tapp 

School of Oriental & African Studies, 

London University

Jennifer Lindsay, Javanese Gamelan (Kuala Lumpur, Oxford University Press, 

1979) pp. 59. 

Edward C. Van Ness and Shita Prawirohardjo, Javanese Wayang Kulit (Kuala 

Lumpur, Oxford University Press, 1980) pp. 95. 

In a rather discrete, almost furtive way, the Kuala Lumpur branch of Oxford 

University Press launched, officially in 1979, a new series called Oxford in Asia Traditional 

and Contemporary Arts, under the unacknowledged guidance of Dr. Jack 

Richards, and the two volumes discussed here were the only titles available by the 

end of 1981. Both appeared the year following the da te given on the title page, 

both are profusely illustrated with colour and black-and-white photographs; Lindsay's 

volume also has a map and line drawings. Neither pretends to be more than an 

introduction to the subject, each vast in itself, and the Van Ness-Prawirohardjo volume 

emphasises this in its subtitle. 

There is certainly room for such a series, and with the authority that Oxford 

commands, one's expectations are high. The authors are well-qualified to tackle their 

subjects: Jennifer Lindsay, better remembered to those who knew her during her years 

in Yogyakarta in the 1970s as Jenny Meister, comes from a distinguished N:w Zealand 

musical family; Edward Van Ness teaches at the Yogyakarta Academy of Music and 

his wife Shita Prawirohardjo comes from a courtly family in Solo where the shadow 

play tradition is as strong as in Yogyakarta. 

It is therefore rather with regret that one feels somewhat less than happy with 

these two volumes. Of the two, Lindsay's book on the gamelan is the more satisfactory. 

She briefly covers the historical background, lists in detail the different musical instruments 

and their making, comments on the tuning and intonation, discusses the structure 

of gamelan music and lastly writes about the gamelan in Javanere society. There are 

a glossary, notes on pronunciation, suggestions for further reading and a list of gamelan 

recordings. 

The limitations of the introductory nature of the volume are perhaps most 

clearly seen in the ten-and-a-half pages (including four photographs and four poems 

in Javanese with translations) on the structure of gamelan music. The subject is clearly 

enormous. There is a footnote referring the reader to Mantle Hood's booklet of 1958, 

not included in the suggestions for further reading, which also curiously omit Oxford's 

recent reprint of McPhee's House in Bali, but rightly and inevitably include Kunst's 

works. 

• 

183

184 Michael Smithies 

A point of debate is whether the siteran really can be said to belong to the 

gamelan, which by definition involves percussive instruments that are struck with a 

hammer. The rebab (viol) and suling (flute) were both added under external influences, 

but neither the siteran nor the celempung, both zither-type instruments and both 

presumably introduced under Chinese influence, belong inherently to the gong-chime 

cultures of Southeast Asia. 

full gamelan orchestra performance. 

Neither has been heard by this reviewer taking part in a 

between Javanese music in general and gamelan music proper. 

There might possibly here be some confusion 

Nevertheless, Ms. Lindsay writes clearly, reasonably objectively and necessarily 

succinctly on an extensive subject which has tremendous cultural remifications within 

Javanese society. 

The longer though still brief Van Ness-Prawirohardjo volume is chiefly disappointing 

in the poor quality of some of the photographs; the colour plates of the warung, 

the street scene, the dalang, golek heads and Arjuna, like the black-and-white photographs 

of paper wayang and the cempala, are ill-defined, or out of focus, or unintelligible. 

Whilst it is a good idea to allow a reader to compare the static coloured figure 

with the silhouette form it presents on the screen, to repeat with both coloured plates 

and black-and-white photos the figures of Kayon, Wayang Prampogan, Arjuna, Bima, 

Adipati-Karma and others, separated and without any cross-referencing, either between 

plates or to the text, is singularly unhelpful. To include an illustration of a Cambodian 

shadow-play figure and a Chinese one from Yogyakarta without any reference to them 

in the text indicating why they are there and what they signify is also unhelpful. 

Because the wayang culture so profoundly permeates Javanese culture and 

affects Javanese attitudes, perhaps it is impossible for any volume, least of all one as 

short as this, to do justice to the subject. The book starts by placing the wayang in 

the past and the present, elaborates on the epics and important personages in them, 

discusses the da lang and his art, and then describes a particular wayang performance. 

The introductory chapter does not develop clearly and one has, almost inevitably, a 

confused picture of wayang kulit and its relationship to other Javanese theatres. 

most satisfactory section is that dealing with the dalang, though this is confused by the 

insertion of descriptions of typical scenes from wayang kulit performances, which have 

little directly to do with a description of the dalang's role and functions. 


The last 

chapter, describing a specially-arranged performance at Mrs. Prawirohardjo's family 

house, is the least successful. Perhaps here the style of the text is most obviously intrusive, 

being on occasions chattily housewifely ('It is amazing how efficiently all the 

preparations are realised with no one person really coordinating things'). 

There is no

REVIEWS 185 

conclusion to the chapter at all, though the dismantling of the screen and figures and 

the dispersal of the dalang and musicians at the end of the story merit comment in the 

same way that the setting up for the performance is elaborated. There is no general 

conclusion to the whole book either, which just peters out. There is however a helpful 

and necessary ten page glossary. 

The difficulty of explaining anything Javanese to the outsider is great: the 

complex Javanese world is entirely self-contained and self-reflecting. It cannot be said 

that this book is likely to be very helpful to someone who has not already some acquaintance 

with this world and the wayang, and such a person is likely to want more than 

an introduction to the subject. In other words, it falls uneasily between two stools, 

being neither sufficiently simple nor sufficiently detailed. Firmer editing would have 

improved matters, in style, order and detail. Lindsay's book is referred to as 'another 

book in this series by Jennifer Meister', whereas Ms. Lindsay's married name nowhere 

appears in her volume. The copyright symbol is blacked out in the copy acquired by 

this reviewer; one wonders why. 

This series, which one assumes will not be confined to Java, promises more than 

it has given to date, ·and it is to be hoped that further volumes will not give too little 

and, unlike the wayang kulit volume, will clearly explain to an outsider the subject 

with~ut appearing to make it and the culture it is part of almost impenetrable. 

Nanyang Technological Institute, 

Singapore 

Michael Smithies

ANNUAL REPORTS 

The Honorary Auditor's Financial Report 

December 31, 1981 and 1980 

We hav~ examined the statements of assets and liabilities of the Siam Society 

(Under Royal Patronage) as at December 31, 1981 and 1980 and the related statements 

of revenues and expenses for the years then ended. Our examinations were made in 

accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and, accordingly, included such 

tests of the accounting records and such other auditing procedures as we considered 

necessary in the circumstances. 

The accounts of the Society are maintained and the accompanying financial 

statements have been prepared on the cash basis, with adjustments to give effect to 

unsold publications, dues collected in advance and inclusion of · provision for 

depreciation. 

In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, on the 

basis indicated in the preceding paragraph, the assets and liabilities of the Siam Society 

(Under Royal Patronage) at December 31, 1981 and 1980 and its revenues and expenses 

for tbe years then ended, applied on a consistent basis. 

YUKT A NA THALANG 

C.P.A. (THAILAND) 

Registration No. 1 

March 9, 1982


STATEMENTS OF ASSJ ns AND LIABILITIES 

AS AT DECEMBER : 31, 1981 AND 1980 

ASSETS 

LIABILITY AND FUNDS 

CURRENT ASSETS 

Cash on hand and in banks 

Temporary investments 

Publications for sale 

. Other current asset 

Total Current Assets 

PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT-At 

Cost or assigned value Jess 

accumulated depreciation (Note) 

Land 

Buildings 

Furniture, fixtures and office 

equipment 

Transportation equipment 

Total 

1981 

168,353.40 

5,778,985.50 

368,176.70 

48,000.00 

6,363,515.60 

1.00 

3.00 

. 906,916.56 

4,168.40 

911,088.96 

In Baht 

1980 

136,839.92 

5,220,199.20 

344,114.84 

48,000.00 

5, 749,153.96 

1.00 

3.00 

992,149.94 

6.252.60 

998,406.54 

CURRENT LIABILITY 

Dues collected in ad vance 

FUNDS 

Endowment fund : 

Thai Government 

Members' contribution 

Life membership fund 

Revolving fund 

Kamthieng Memorial fund 

Staff welfare fund 

Edwin F. Stanton fund 

Carlsberg Foundation fund 

F.t:iends of Society fund 

Accumulated excess of revenues 

over expenditures 

Balance, beginning of year 

Excess of revenues over 

expenditures for the year 

Balance, end of year 

Total Funds 

In Baht 

1981 ·J980 

49,364.50 41,280.98 

2,0~0,000.00 2,000,000.00 

323,395.57 323,395.57 

915,923.16 797,144.95 

101,675.00 101,675.00 

63,519.25 60,914.00 

44,435.00 44,435.00 

51,062.47 22,608.47 

10,205.25 10,205.25 

4,000.00 4,000.00 

3,514,215.70 3,364,378.24 

3,341,901.28 2,133,063.95 

369,123.08 1,208,837.33 

3, 711,024.36 3,341,901.28 . 

7,225,240.06 6,706,279.52 

TOTAL ASSETS 

7,274.604.56 

6,747.560.50 

TOTAL LIABILITY AND FUNDS 

7,274,604.56 6,747,560.50 

See accompanying Note ~ 

(With Mr. Yukta na Thalang'\ 

to Financial Statements. 

i report dated March 9, 1982) 

L-


STATEMENTS OF REVENUES AND EXPENSES 

FOR THE YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1981 AND 1980 

In Baht 

1981 1980 

REVENUES 

Interest income 893,444.02 1,056,554.23 

Members' dues and fees 471,425.36 410,457.94 

Sales of publications 243,620.50 387,766.02 

Donation from : 

- John F Kennedy Foundation 

100,000.00 

- H.R.H. Princess Marayart 

Diskul 3,000.00 

Contribution from members on 

the 75th Anniversary of the 

Society 

Others-net 398,885.00 

1,278,523.83 

447,862.53 

Total Revenues 2,010,374.88 3,681,164.55 

EXPENSES 

Salaries and bonuses 410,198.00 

Travel and transportation 320,749.50 

Cost of.publications 282,101.64 

Depreciation 138,422.86 

Electricity and water 133,650.74 

Dues and subscriptions 74,256.32 

Stationery and printing 71,020.25 

Postage, telephone and 

telegram 67,300.00 

Repairs and maintenance 29,265.50 

Provident funds 27,290.00 

Representation and entertainment 24,668.50 

Medical Expenses 9,590.00 

Insurance 7,731.74 

Parking lot 

Medallions and boxes 

Miscellaneous 45,006.75 

Total Expenses 1,641,251.80 

EXCESS OF REVENUES OVER 

EXPENSES 369,123.08 

377,100.00 

301,653.50 

657,718.08 

101,223.82 

63,608.75 

75,137.83 

73,730.00 

90,172.00 

494,607.40 

35,316.50 

11,359.50 

7,398.99 

67,320.00 

45,569.00 

70,411.85 

2,472,327.22 

1,208,837.33 

See accompanying Note to Financial Statements. 

(With Mr. Yukta na Thalang's report dated March 9, 1982)


NOTE TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 

DECEMBER 31, 1981 AND 1980 

PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT 

The Society has adopted the practice of recording donated properties at 

nominal values. Because of the nature of the Society's activities, it has not put 

emphasis on establishing the current values of these properties. In the past, the 

Society had obtained a valuation for its land which was quoted at Baht 7.2 million. 

Furniture, fixtures and office equipment are being depreciated by the declining 

balance method; whereby the depreciation rate of 10%-20% are being applied on the 

·net book value at the beginning of each year, while the transportation equipment is 

depreciated by the straight-line method of five years. Depreciation expense amounted 

to Baht 138,422.86 in 1981 and Baht 101,224 in 1980. 

188

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the 

Siam Society, Under Royal Patronage 

I 3 I Soi Asoke, Sukhumvit Road, Bangkok 

Thursday, 26 March 1981 

The Annual General Meeting terminating the Council year 1980/81 was held 

on Thursday, 26 March 1981 at the Society's Home, and commenced at 8.15 p.m. The 

meeting was attended by 69 members. The following members of the outgoing Council 

were present. 

President 

H.S.H. Prince Subhadradis Diskul 

Vice-President & Honorary Treasurer 

Vice-President & Leader of the 

Natural History Section 

Vice-President 

Honorary Secretary 

Honorary Editor 

M.R. Patanachai Jayant 

Dr. Tem Smitinand 

Mr. Vivadh na Pombejra 

Mrs. Nongyao Narumit 

Mr. Kim Atkinson 

Mrs. Katherine Buri 

Mr. Francis W.C. Martin 

Mr. Henri Pagau-Clarac 

Dr. Tej Bunnag 

Mr. Sirichai Narumit 

Mr. Dacre Raikes 

Mrs. Sonia Krug 

1. The Adoption of the Minutes of the last Annual General Meeting, held on 

Thursday, 27 March 1980. Since there were no comments, the Minutes were adopted 

as presented. 

2. Presentation of the Annual Report for the Council year 1980. Since there 

were no questions or comments the Annual Report was adopted as presented. 

3. Presentation of the Financial Statement for 1980. M.R. Patanachai Jayant, 

the Honorary Treasurer, presented the Financial Statement for 1980 with the comment 

that although the statements of Assets and Liabilities showed an increase of more than 

one ·million baht from 1979 to 1980, this was misleading in that it reflected the contributions 

received from the Society's Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Fund Raising, but not 

the amounts spent on air-conditioning the hall and repairing the Library. In actuality 

the Society spent more than it received in contributions. With this commentary, the 

Financial Statement was accepted as presented. 

189

190 Annual Reports 

4. Election of the Honorary Auditor for 1981. The outgoing Council proposed 

the re-election of Mr. Yukta na Thalang as Honorary Auditor. 

was re-elected Honorary Auditor. 

Mr. Yukta na Thalang 

5. Election of Honorary Vice-President. The outgoing Council proposed the 

election of Mom Kobkaew Abhakara na Ayudhya as Honorary Vice-President, in view 

of her outstanding work on the Society's behalf. Mom Kobkaew Abhakara na Ayudhya 

was elected Honorary Vice-President. 

6. Election of Honorary Member. The outgoing Council proposed the election 

of Chao Khun Rajvoramuni as Honorary Member. 

elected Honorary Member. 

Chao Khun Rajvoramuni was 

7. Election of Council for 1981/81. 

a. H.S.H. Prince Subhadradis Diskul announced he had tendered his resignation 

to the Council as he would be abroad for much of the coming year. 

M.R. Patanachai _,... Jayant was elected President. 

b. Dr. Tem Smitinand and Mr. Vivadh na Pombejra were re-elected Vice- 

Presidents and Mr. Sirichai Narumit was elected Vice-President. 

c. Dr. Chitriya Tingsabadh was elected Honorary Secretary replacing Mrs. 

Nongyao Narumit who had resigned from the Council. 

d. Mrs. Katherine Buri was elected Honorary Treasurer. 

e. Dr. Tej Bunnag was elected Honorary Editor. 

f. Dr. Soonthorn Kaewlai was elected Honorary Librarian replacing Mrs. 

Chittra Pranich who had resigned from the Council. 

g. Office of "Leader of the Natural History Section". This position was to 

be filled ex-officio. 

Council members seeking re-election and members proposed as members of the 

Council were introduced. 

g. The following were re-elected Ordinary Members of Council: 


Mr. Christopher J.A. Chubb 

Mr. Eiichi Hamanishi 




Dr. Piriya Krairiksh 

Mr. Dacre F.A. Raikes 

Mr. Sulak Sivaraksa 

h. The following were elected Ordinary Members of Council: 

Dr. Somboon Suksamran 

Mr. Michael Wright 

Mrs. Virginia Di Crocco 

Dr. Thosaporn Wongratana 

Dr. Warren R. Brockelman 

Mr. William Sage

8.. Any other business. 

Annual Reports 191 

a. Mr. Francis W.C. Martin read the Council's recommended changes to 

Rules 7, 8, 9, 13, and 32 as follows: 

Rule 7 : Members of the Society shall be of four categories-Ordinary, Honorary, 

Corresponding and Student. Both ladies and gentlemen shall 

be eligible for membership of the Society. 

Rule 8 : 

Candidates for ordinary and student membership shall be proposed 

by a member of the Sociely, and shall be put up for election at a 

Meeting of the Council. 

Rule 9 : The Annual Subscription for Ordinary members shall be Baht 500, 

and for Student members Baht 50.00 payable IN ADVANCE on 

the 1st of January in each year, or in the case of new members 

upon notification of election. The election shall, however, not be 

deemed valid until the first year's subscription have been paid. 

Ordinary Members shall be allowed to apply for life membership of 

the Society on a single payment of Baht 10,000.- 

0rdinary Members of a standing of full twenty-five years shall be 

deemed to be life members, and ipso facto be exempted from further 

subscription. 

The Council shall have power to remit or reduce the Annual Subscription 

for Ordinary Members in special cases. 

Rule 13: Any Ordinary Member, and student member, resigning after the 1st 

of January of any year, shall be liable for his subscription for that 

year. 

Rule 32: Every Member of the Society shall be entitled to one copy of each 

number of the Journal and the Bulletin as it appears upon payment 

of such sum as the Council may fix to cover cost of production from 

time to time. 

There was a discussion, during which Dr. Tej Bunnag pointed out that with the 

continuously rising costs of publications the Siam Society could no longer afford to 

include the Journals in the fixed membership fee. It was, he explained, the Council's 

plan to publish only one Journal in 1981, which would be a thicker, more substantion 

volume than any single volume recently published, with the hope that in 1982 the 

Society would be able to return to the two-volumes per year. The amendments to the 

Rules of the Siam Society were then adopted as recommended by the out-going 

Council.


Mr. Roger Krasker suggested that the Society have more natural history trips 

organized by Mrs. Katherine Buri to Khao Yai and possibly other national 

parks. No action was recommended. 

* * * * * * 

After the formal business of the Annual General Meeting a film on the activities 

of the Siam Society, The 75th Year of the Siam Society, was presented, narrated 

by Mrs. Nisa Sheanakul and Mr. Henri Pagau-Ciarac. 

The President adjourned the Meeting at 10.45 p.m.

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE 

1981/82 

The Siam Society continued to expand its activities during the year. In addition 

to the Society's own programmes of regular lectures, film shows and other events, 

the Hall and grounds were widely used by members and the public. The Administrative 

Secretary and other staff have been most willing to ensure that the Society's activities 

were carried out smoothly. 

The Society is operating under increasing financial pressure. Various economy 

measures have been introduced together with attempts to increase the Society's income. 

Rising electricity and water charges are the two major items that affect administrative 

costs of the Society. It is not yet clear how much the new scale of membership fees 

will contribute to income. 

The Society is always faced with problems of storage space. Some of its unsold 

publications and books temporarily stored in various places could be donated to libraries, 

sold or even thrown away. 

Membership. 

The total number of members of the Siam Society, as appearing on the list at 

the end of December 1981, was 1160. Of this, 374 were Life Members, 768 Ordinary 

Members and 18 were Student Members. 

The new membership structure and fees became effective as of I January 1982. 

Staff. 

1. Miss Songsri Boon-long was employed on a 3 month trial basis as Assistant 

Administrative Secretary on I June 1981. She resigned at the end of the trial period 

on 31 August 1981. 

2. Mrs. Sunee Grima, Librarian, resigned in October 1981 after a year with 

the Society to go back to the United States. She was replaced by Mrs. Yuwadee 

Pitak. 

3. Mr. Suraphol Kayan, office boy, was given leave for 18 days to be ordained 

as a monk. 

The Society has 13 staff members. 

House and Ground Improvement. 

1. A typewriter was purchased for the Business office. 

2. Ten tables were purchased for the Hall. 

3. The Administrative Committee was anxious to find a way to improve the 

acoustics in the Hall. Financial constraint was the principal limiting factor. 

l93


Donations. 

Mrs. Katherine Buri, Honorary Treasurer, kindly donated a pump to the Society 

to help to drain flood water from the compound. Mrs. Buri also kindly donated a lens 

for use with a 16 mm. movie projector. 

The Fuji Photo Co. Ltd. kindly donated one Fujica single lens reflex camera 

and one Fujica Auto Strobo AZ which prove excellent for Programme and Travel work 

of the Society. Mrs. Sonia Krug, Council member also kindly donated a calculating 

machine to the office. 

Hall and Grounds. 

The Hall has been used for the Society's varied programmes, performances, 

film and video shows, etc. The Society now serves punch, snacks and coffee during 

the interval-a service which seems to have been warmly received by those who join in 

the Society's activities. 

The Siam Studio Co. Ltd. rented the hall to make advertising films in June 

1981. The Hall and grounds were also rented for cocktail, dinner and wedding parties. 

With increased electricity and water charges, the rent hardly covered expenses. 

The rental charges may have to be revised in view of increased costs. 

Film Project. 

A number of old films were given to the Siam Society some years ago by H.M. 

Queen Rambhai Barni. Some of these films have been examined, cleaned and restored 

with expert help. There is, however, still considerable work to be done. 

COMMITTEE MEMBERS: 

Dr. Chitriya Tingsabadh 

Mr. Vivadh na Pombejra 



Ms. Nongyao Narumit 

Dr. Soonthorn Kaewlai 

Mr. Euayporn Kerdchouay 

Chairman 

Vice Chairman

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE LIBRARY COMMITTEE 

1981/82 

LIBRARY ACQUISITION. 

The Library had 213 titles added to the collection. Out of these 122 titles were 

in Thai. 

For gift and donation, there were 59 titles in Thai and 203 in foreign languages; 

with emphasis on arts and Buddhism. Donors were both individuals and institutions. 

LIBRARY SERVICES. 

1. Cataloguing and classification. 

1.1 The library has attempted to catalogue books in Mon and Burmese 

through the help of a volunteer expert in Mon. 

1.2 For better bibliographic control, the reclassification and relocation of 

back issues and bound volumes of journals has begun. 

1.3 A list of 35 old and rare maps with details about size and location 

has been completed. 

2. Microfilm project. The microfilming of The Journal of the Siam Society 

Vol. 1-57 is now complete, both for library use and for sale. Due to the condition of 

the paper, the result of the microfilming of Bangkok Times has been unfortunately 

unsatisfactory. 

3. Inter-library loan. Other than university libraries, the library has started 

an official inter-library loan service with the National Library. 

4. Circulation service. The library has ·a number of overdue books. The 

library hopes that members who have overdue books wtll kindly return them to the 

library. 

5. Exchange. 54 institutions cooperated in our exchange programme~ 

PERSONNEL. 

Two student assistants were employed in 1981. 


Dr. Soonthorn Kaewlai 

Mrs. Bonnie Davis 

Mrs. Virginia M. Di Crocco 


Mrs. Yuwadee Pitak 

Chairman 

Advisor 

Secretary 

195

ANNUAL REPORt OF NA ttJRAL HISTORY SECTION 

1981/82 

During the fiscal year the Natural History Section has undertaken the following 

activities : 

1. EXCURSION : Four excursions have been organised for members of the 

Society and their friends. An excursion to Phu Luang Wildlife Sanctuary in Loei was 

attractive and received great interest from participants, so three consecutives trips have 

been made to this particular area of nnique natural beauty, i.e. 22-25 October, 17-21 

December 1981 and 5-9 February 1982. 

A one-day excursion to visit the shell museum, naval museum and the aquarium 

in Samut Prakan on 6 June 1981led by Dr. Thosaporn Wongratana was received with 

satisfaction. 

2. PUBLICATION: A sum of Baht 60,000 has been approved by the Council 

for the publication of the Natural History Bulletin, Volume 29. Owing to the scarcity 

of articles, the publication has had to be postponed; the volume is expected to be 

published during the fiscal year 1982-1983. 

3. COMMITTEE MEETING: An open meeting was held on lOth February 

1982 to discuss plans and activities of the Section. Plans for a supplementary bicentennial 

volume of the Natural History Bulletin entitled "Conservation in Thailand" were 

considered. 

Dr. Tern Smitinand was re-elected as the Leader for 1982-1983. 


Dr. Tem Smitinand 

Dr. Warren R. Brockelman 


Mr. Buayporn Kerdchouay 

Dr. Rachit Buri 


Leader of the Section and Editor, NHB 

Co-Editor, NHB 

Financial Advisor 

Programme Advisor 



196

ANNtJAL REPORT OF THE PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE 

1981/82 

Owing to the tightness of the Society's financial, situation only one book was 

published: a new edition of Yao Design by Jacqueline Butler Diaz. This is very 

welcome as the book had long been out of print. Mrs. Sonia Krug kindly acted as 

editor and the Council is most grateful to the author for a loan to help cover the cost 

of production. 

Future publications include "The Kamthieng House" by Mrs. Sonia Krug, "A 

History of Mon" "Dvaravati Art" by Dr. Piriya Krairiksh and "Thai Bank Notes" by 

Charles Stewart. 

Journal of the Siam Society: Due to various difficulties, JSS 1981, inclusive 

of two parts, appeared in March 1982. 


Mr. F.W.C. Martin 





Chairman 

197

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE KAMTHIENG HOUSE COMMITTEE 

1981/82 

Miss Amaraphorn Lelakultanit, B. Archeology (Silpakorn University) was 

selected and employed as curator of the Kamthieng House from February 1981. She 

spent the first two months re-arranging exhibit items in the main house and the hill-tribe 

museum, resulting in much better conditions for visitors. Besides serving as regular 

guide to the House, Miss Amaraphorn went up to Chiang Mai in March 1981 to consult 

with Khun Kraisri Nimmanhemindra, the donor of the house, and to collect additional 

artifacts for exhibition. Miss Songsri Boon-Long, Assistant Administrative Secretary, 

also went to Chieng Mai on a similar mission in August 1981. 

During 1981, the Kamthieng House was visited by individuals and numerous 

groups, including H.R.H. Prince Naruhito of Japan and Members of the American 

Travel Writers Association. A wedding party and several other parties were. arranged 

at the House and in its compound. 

The total revenue earned from the Kamthieng House for 1981 was 9,035 baht. 

In addition, a donation of 66,254 baht from the East-West Seminar Foundation 

of Japan was gratefully received and utilized for the curator's salary. 

As the former guidebook for the Kamthieng House ran out of print, Mrs. Sonia 

Krug has kindly compiled a new guidebook which is going to be more up to date and 

more detailed. The draft of the book has been completed and the book will be 

published shortly. 



Mrs. Nisa Sheanakul 


Mrs. Shirley Duboff 

Mr. William Sage 

Mr. William M. Riley 

Mr. Nunt Buranasiri 

Chairman 

Members 

198

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PROGRAMME 

AND TRAVEL COMMITTEE 

1981/82 

Our travels have been fairly frequent and many members and friends went 

regularly with us. Some trips have had to be repeated. Financially, they helped a 

great deal to pay other expenses of the Society, which have been constantly increasing. 

·We have also contributed some of our earnings to worthwhile causes e.g. to Wats for 

mural conservation as well as for spiritual welfare of those who seek enlightenment. 

Apart from our usual lectures in English, we also held seminars in Thai. 

For smaller audiences we used the Prince Dhani room effectively. All our lectures are 

taped for the benefit of absent members and those who live abroad, who can borrow 

these tapes or have them copied at a reasonable cost. 

Our film and video tape series, have been well attended. 

evenings, too, have gone from strength to strength. 

Our cultural 

The following were our activities during the year. 

18-19 April Mr. Euayporn Kerdchouay, Administrative Secretary, led an 

excursion to SARABURI, SINGBURI AND ANGTHONG 

with Nang Yai performance and dinner party. 

21 April 

Prof. Saneh Chamarik, Faculty of Political Science, Thammasat 

University, lectured on PROBLEMS OF DEVELOPMENT 

IN THE THAI POLITICAL SETTING. 

23 April 

Mr. Tirayuth Yuangsri, Dramatics Arts College, Chiang Mai, 

introduced THE DANCE AND MUSIC OF THE AKHA. 

25-26 April 

7 May 

12 May 

19 May 

Panel discussion on t~u-iu 'l 'lll~riim11LL~1.:1'1111L£Jnmmnn\ 'YI!l 

' 

Mr. Euayporn Kerdchouay, Administrative Secretary, led 

members to observe the PLOUGHING CEREMONY AT 

PRAMANE GROUND. 

Dr. Wipa Kongkananda, Silpakorn University, Nakorn Pathom 

lectured on PHRA LO, AN IMAGE OF A TRAGIC HERO. 

H.S.H. Prince Subhadradis Diskul, former President of the Siam 

Society, lectured on NEW DISCOVERIES AT WAT KEO, 

CHAIYA, PRASAT MUANG SINGH, KANCHANABURI, 

AND A NEW EXCAVATION SITE AT AMPHOE SAM 

CHUK, SUPANBURI.

200 

23-24 May 

26 May 

2 June 

21 June 

2 July 

7 July 

9 July 

15-20 July 

16 July 

23 July 

25 July 



Society, and Dr. Tem Smitinand, Vice-President of the Siam 

Society led an excursion to PRASAT MUANG SINGH, 

U-THONG AND OTHER PLACES IN KANCHANABURI. 

Dr. Gerard Diffioth, Associate Professor of Linguistics, University 

of Chicago, lectured on THE NY AH-KUR PEOPLE 

(CHAO-BON) :DIRECT DESCENDANTS OF THE DVARA 

VATI POPULATION. 

Mrs. Kirsten Ewers Andersen, Associate expert at the International 

Labour Organisation, lectured on PWO KAREN 

FOREST PEOPLE IN THAILAND : RELIGION, ECO 

LOGY AND DEVELOPMENT. 


Society, led A TOUR OF THE GRAND PALACE AND 

THE TEMPLE OF THE EMERALD BUDDHA. 

The Japanese film THE CASTLE OF SAND, was shown 

with the cooperation of the Embassy of Japan and of the Japan 

Foundation, Bangkok. 

Rev. Prof. Bruce Matthews, Acadia University, Nova Scotia, 

lectured on BUDDHISM AND NATIONAL PURPOSE 

THE CASE OF SRI LANKA. 

The Japanese film THE TWIN SISTERS OF KYOTO was 

shown with )he cooperation of the Embassy of Japan and of 

the Japan Foundation, Bangkok. 

Mr. Euayporn Kerdchouay, Administrative Secretary, led an 

EXCURSION TO . VISIT HILL TRIBE VILLAGES, TEM 

PLES AND OTHER SITES OF INTEREST IN MAE HONG 

SON, CHIANG RAI, PHYAO AND LAMPANG. 

The Japanese film THREE LETTERS was shown with the 

cooperation of the Embassy of Japan and of the Japan Foundation. 

The Japanese film MELODY IN GREY was shown with the 

cooperation of the Embassy of Japan and of the Japan 

Foundation. 

"' I A ~ 

Panel discussion on n1'l'LU\'I!IULLUt'h'ILLt'l!:fl11~GJm'I-Hh111£h1£lfllln11m'llrH 

,


26 July 

30 July 

31 July- 

3 August 

6 August 

8-15 August 

11 August 

19 August 

20 August 

22-23 August 

25 August 

1 September 

3 September 


EXCURSION TO VISIT TEMPLES AND MURAL PAIN 

TINGS. AT SELDOM VISITED TEMPLES IN THONBURI 

AND PHRAPRADAENG .. 

The Japanese film HOME FROM THE SEA was shown with 

the cooperation of the Embassy of Japan and of the Japan 

Foundation. 

Mr. Henri Pagau-Clarac,. Member of the Council, led an 

EXCURSION TO UDORN TRANI, SAKON NAKHON, 

KHON KAEN, MAHASARAKHAM AND KALASIN. 

The Japanese film THE YELLOW HANDKERCHIEF was 

shown with the cooperation of the Embassy of Japan and of 

the Japan Foundation. 

Dr. Piriya Krairiksh, Member of the Council, led an EXCUR 

SION TO BURMA. 

Mr. Sulak Sivaraksa, Member of the Council, lectured on H.R.H. 

PRINCE BARIPAT OF NAGARASAWAN, (1881-1944) 

HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE THAI NATION. 

Dr. Kim Atkins, Cornell University, lectured on PROBLEMS 

IN CULTURAL PRESERVATION: LANNA LANGUAGE 

AND SCRIPTS. 

Prof. Y. Ishii, Southeast Asia Research Center, Kyoto University, 

lectured on DON DAENG VILLAGE IN KHON KAEN 

PROVINCE AFTER 15 YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT. 

Mr. John Blofeld, Member of the Society and well-known author 

of many books on Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism, led an 

excursion to CHINESE TEMPLES IN CHONBURI. 

Dr. John Grima, Lecturer of Faculty of Liberal Arts, Thammasat 

University, lectured on THE HISTORY OF CENTRAL 

AND SOUTHERN . .VIETNAMESE FINALS. 

Dr. Withaya Sucharitthanarugse, Asst. Prof., Faculty of Political 

Science, Director of the Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn 

University, lectured on THE IDEA OF POWER IN 

THAI SOCIETY. 

Dr. K. V. Raman, Department of Ancient History and Archaeology, 

University of Madras, India, lectured on ARCHAEOLOGY 

IN SOUTU INDIA-RECENT DISCOVERIES.

202 

8 September 

13 September 

15 September 

17 September 

22 September 

24 September 

1 October 

13 Oc_tober 

20 October 

22 October 

22-25 October 

29 October 

1 November 

6-9 November 

19 November 

21 November 

24 November 


Mrs. J. Butler-Diaz, author of the book entitled YAO DESIGN 

OF NORTHERN THAILAND, lectured on DESIGNS OF 

THE YAO. 

Mr. Euayporn Kerdchouay Administrative Secretary, led 

members for A SUNDAY WALK IN ORCHARDS AND A 

VISIT TO TEMPLES IN THONBURI. 

The Korean films DISCOVERING THE ART OF KOREA 

and KOREAN ARCHITECTURE were shown. 

The Thai film YELLOW SKY was shown. 

The Thai film LOED SUPAN was shown. 

MUSIC AND DANCE FROM MAHASARAKAM was 

performed, with cooperation of Mahasarakam Teachers Training 

College. 

The Thai film LUANG T A was shown. 

Dr. Uthai Dulyakasem, Faculty of Education, Silpakorn University, 

Nakorn Pathom, lectured on MODERNIZATION 

AND ETHNIC NATIONALISM : THE CASE OF MUS 

LIM MALAYS OF SOUTHERN THAILAND. 

The Thai film THONG PAN was shown. 

The Thai film MOUNTAIN PEOPLE was shown. 


EXCURSION TO CHIANG MAl. 

The Thai film NEGRITO was shown. 

Mrs. Yi-Ming Chang, member of the Siam Society, lectured on 

the CHINESE OPERA. 


EXCURSION TO SAMUI ISLAND AND OTHER IS 

LANDS IN THE GULF OF SIAM. 

Dr. T. Pathy, Department of Ancient Indian Culture, Marathwada 

University, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India, lectured on 

THE ART AND CULTURE OF BUDDHIST CAVES AT 

AJANTA. 

Mr. Euayporn Kerdchouay, Administrative Secretary, led 

members to VISIT THE HOME OF ACHILLE CLARAC, 

former French Ambassador to Thailand and AN EXCURSION 

TO TEMPLES ON THE CHAO PHY A RIVER. 

Dr. Chiri Vichit-Vadakan, Faculty of Public Administration, 

NIDA, lectured on RETHINKING THE PROBLEM OF 

THE ·CHINESE IN THA.I SOCIETY,


2o3 

27-30 November 

6 December 

8 December 

9-14 December 

15 December 

22 December 

29 December 

5 January 

12 January 

19 January 

20 January 

26 January 

27 January 

30 January 

H.S.H. Prince Subhadradis Diskul, former Preside~t of the Siam 

Society, led an EXCURSION TO PHITSANULOK, KAM 

PHAENGPHET, SUKHOTHAI AND SI SATCHANALAI. 


EXCURSION TO SEE TEMPLES, PAINTINGS IN THON 

BURl AND NONTHABURI BY RICE BARGE. 

Dr. Jacques Lemoine, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique 

Fran«;:ais, lectured on YAO TAOIST PAINTINGS. 


EXCURSION TO VISIT HILL TRIBE VILLAGES AND 

OTHER SITES OF INTEREST IN CHIANG RAI, CHIANG 

SAEN, PHYAO AND LAMPANG. 

Dr. Kwandee Rakpongse, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Thammasat 

University, lectured on WESTERN INFLUENCE IN THAI 

LITERATURE. 

Two videos were shown: Wild Life: VAMPIRE and The 

Spirit of Asia part 1: WORLD OF SHADOW. 

Two videos were shown: Wild Life : THAI MONKEY and 

The Spirit of Asia part 2 : BALI. 

Mr. Sulak Sivaraksa, Member of the Council, lectured on 

LEADING PERSONALITIES IN THE EARLY BANGKOK 

PERIOD. 

Two videos were shown: Wild Life: ROCK FOR ALL 

SEASON and The Spirit of Asia part 3 : JAVA. 

Two videos were shown: Wild Life : CROCODILE and The 

Spirit of Asia part 4 : RAMAY ANA. 

Mr. Takamichi Tohyama, a professional Noh player and a follower 

of the Hosho school, gave an introduction and demonstration 

of JAPANESE NOH THEATRE. 

Two videos were shown: Wild Life: CATS and The.Spirit.of 

Asia part 5 : CAMBODIA. 

MUSIC AND DANCE FROM LOBI PROVINCE was performed, 

with the cooperation of Loei Teachers Training College. 


EXCURSION TO VISIT TEMPLES, MURAL PAINTINGS 

AND OTHER SITES OF INTEREST IN SARABURI.

204 

2 February 

9 February 

12-15 February 

23 February 

25 February 

26-28 February 

2 March 

S-7 March 

9 March 

16 March 

20-2i March 

23 March 

25 March 


Two videos were shown: Wild Life : SHOW DOGS and The 

Spirit of Asia part 6: BURMA. 

Dr. Robert Bobilin, former Chairman, Department of Religions, 

University of Hawaii, HonolUlu, gave a talk on MALTHU 

SIANS, MARXISTS, MISSIONARIES AND THE MID 

DLE PATH. 

Mr. William Klausner, former member of the Council and 

Advisor to the Ford Foundation, Bangkok, led members to Ubol 

Ratchathani and TOD PHA PA. SAMAKKI AT WAT PA 

NANACHAT. 

Two videos were shown : ANIMAL OLYMPICS and the last 

programme from The Spirit of Asia series: THAILAND. 

The film THE OPIUM WARLORDS was shown. 

Mr. Euayporn Kerdchouay, Administrative Secretary,. led an 

EXCURSION TO PHI PHI DON ISLAND, PHI PHI LE 

ISLAND AND OTHER ISLANDS IN THE ANDAMAN 

SEA. 

Two videos were shown: MYSTERY OF THE GREEN 

MOUNTAIN and MUSIC AFTER MAO. 

Mr. Buayporn Kerdchouay, Administrative Secretary, led an 

EXCURSION TO PHI PHI DON ISLAND, PHI PHI LB 

ISLAND AND OTHER ISLANDS IN THE ANDAMAN 

SEA. 

Two videos were shown : MUNDI ABORIGINES and BUD 

DHA CAME TO SUSSEX. 

Two videos were shown: PORCELAIN and AS THE JAPA 

NESE LIKE IT. 


EXCURSION TO AMPHAWA, PHOTHARAM, RATCHA 

BURI AND PHRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN. 

Two videos were shown: LAST PLACE ON EARTH No. 

1 and No.2. 

The Annual General Meeting was held followed by a lecture and 

slide show on BARB-HEADED DOCTORS by Dr. Prawes 

Wasi, Deputy Rector of Mahidol University, 1981 Ramon 

Magsaysay Award for. Public Service.


NOTE: 

Lectures 22 

Excursions 20 

Films 14 

Video 11 

Performances 4 

Panel discussions 2 

Total 73 

The Programme & Travel Committee works closely with the Natural History 

Section as well as with the Arts & Culture Committee. Besides, a tlUx:nber of members 

and friends helped to make all the events possible. 



Mr. Henri ~agau-Clarac 




Chairman 

Co-Chairman 

Member 

Member 

Secretary

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE AR't AND CUL TtlRE COMMITTE£ 

1981/82 

The Art and Culture Committee met four times during 1981 and either allocated 

funds, or assisted in the acquisition of funds, to support the following projects:- 

MAK REUK KHON. 

The second performance was given on the Society's lawn on 29th January by a 

group consisting of about 60 dancers and musicians from the combined campuses of 

Srinakharinwirot University at Bangkhen and Prasarnmit. An audience o~ 180 Society 

members and friends witnessed and much enjoyed this demonstration of human chess 

which is hard to see elsewhere these days. 

AKHA (EGOR) DANCE AND MUSIC. 

A programme was presented at the Society by Acharn Tirayudh Yuangsri of 

the Dramatic Arts College, Chiang Mai, on 25th April. Additional performances were 

also given at the Bangkok Bank's Art Center at Phanfa as well as on TV Channel 7. 

Some of the traditional dance movements performed by the girls in time to their own 

singing were demonstrated as well as some of the dances in which boys and girls perform 

in alternate teams. The exclusively male reed organ (ladjei) was played as was the 

flute (cheu lu) and the jews harp (cha eu) by means of which messages, particularly 

love-messages, can be passed when courting. 

NORTHEASTERN DANCE AND MUSIC. 

This was presented on 24th September when the students ofKanasawat College, 

Mahasarakam, gave a most vivacious performance for Society members. The programme 

opened with a Baisri Dance after which the traditional sacred threads were tied 

around the wrists of some guests present, this was followed by Khun Larn, the harvesting 

dance. The shallow water fishing dance, Serng Sawing was next and this in turn 

was followed by the less wellknown mat weaving dance from Ban Pheng, Amphoe 

Kosumphisai. Other dances, which were interspersed with northeastern songs and solo 

items on the kaen and pong lang, included a brisk Fon Tien, the candle dance, the Fon 

Phu Thai and a boisterous Kiong Yao Dance to round off an enjoyable night. 

TAECHIEW OPERA 

A somewhat marathonic course consisting of a lecture on "Taechiew Opera 

in Thailand" by Mrs. Yi-Ming Chang, a Chinese dinner in Jawarad Road and a 

performance of the Lo Tung story (a romance set in the Tang period) at the Sin Fa 

Theatre was undertaken by 130 Society members on 1st November. Some of the 

206


considerable differences betweem ·Peking and Taechiew opera, particularly those 

pertaining to local custom regarding make-up and dress, were pointed out by Mrs. 

Yi-Ming before she went on to show slides of the upcoming evening's performance. 

Notes, on a scene-by-scene basis, had also been prepared beforehand and members 

were therefore able, more or less, to follow the story as it unfolded on stage. However 

not too many were left to witness the drop of the curtain at about 10.45 p.m. 

JAPANESE NOH THEATRE. 

A lecture-demonstration ~as given to an audience in excess of 100 at the 

Society on 20th January 1982 by Mr. Makamichi Tohyama, a leading exponent of the 

Hosho school. The evening began with a short lecture given in English by Acharn 

Saowaluck Suriyawongpaisal of Chulalongkorn University who explained some of the 

major points to look for in a Noh play and illustrated the more important points with 

the use of Mr. Tohyama's slides. Mr. Tohyama was then h:mself introduced and 

Acharn Saowaluck continued to translate his remarks as he gave an initial demonstration 

of some of the basic movements used in the Noh. The actor then demonstrated a 

very celebrated solo part, the Angel's Dance from Hagoromo, and later followed this up 

with a short part for a samurai by way of contrast. The Society is grateful to Professor 

Yoshinobu Kakiuchi, Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo, and to Mrs. 

Kakiuchi who gave much assistance with the preparation of this programme which 

proved to be of great interest to followers of drama in the Asian region. 

NORTHEASTERN DANCE AND MUSIC. 

The second performance of northeastern dance and music was brought to the 

Society on 27th January 1982 by the Teachers Training College of Loei. This was 

combined with a Thai supper to make an enjoyable evening for the 100 members who 

came to see the show which included the to-be-expected sounds of kaens, pins and pong 

lang. Much of the music gave signs of heavy infiltration by modern "look toong" 

beats bul some of the dances were new to Bangkok audiences, one was even new to 

Loei as it was only choreographed last year on the TTC campus. 

Of greatest interest, perhaps, was the Ram Chong Pang of the Thai Dam of 

which ethnic grouping there are only 100 households, in their own village, in Changvad 

Loei. This dance concerns the exorcism of evil spirits which take possession of various 

people. The performance begins with the blessing of a tree to which flowers are attached. 

The "moh phi" (spirit doctor) brandishes a sword in front of this tree aided 

by a group of girls who perform a ceremonial dance around it. If the magic is effective 

the illnesses, mental or physical, are cured when the afflicted are made to eat the flowers 

after the blessing is completed.


Another rather unusual dance was the Serng Nang Kwak which represents a 

seance in which two widows hold each end of a pole on which a basket has been fixed; 

this is dressed up to look somewhat human with a shirt, a hat, and maybe even false 

hair. Answers put to the spirit through the medium are divined from the directions 

in which the holders of the "kwak" move. Other spirit dances included the Fon Khoon 

Larn, a harvesting dance to Mae Phosop the rice-goddess, and the Ram Nang Dong in 

which the motions of rice husking are copied. 

SLIDE LECTURES ON INDIAN ARCHEOLOGY. 

The Society joined with the Ford Foundation (who kindly provided the airfares) 

in sponsoring the vi~s of two Indian professors who came to lecture on some 

. archeological and historical aspects of the sub-continent. 

In September Dr. K.V. Raman, Professor and Head of Department of Ancient 

History and Archeology ofMarathavada University, Madras, lectured on the archeology, 

temple architecture and sculptural art and iconography of South India to the Society, 

to the National Museum Volunteers and the Graduate School of Archeology at Silapakorn 

University respectively. He was followed in November by Professor T. Pathy of 

the Department of Ancient Indian Culture of Aurungabad University who lectured on 

the Ell ora and Ajanta Caves at the same three locations: 

CULTURAL EXCHANGES WITH MALAYSIA. 

These unfortunately suffered a double blow in November/December when 

firstly Kesuma, the cultural troupe of Universiti Malaya, cancelled their visit at short 

notice and, secondly, when the festival committee of Pesta Pinang decided that they 

would concentrate on Singapore in 1981 and let a proposed Nang Yai ·performance from 

Thailand await another year. Many preparations had already been made for both 

visits and it is to be hoped that something can be rescheduled in 1982 or 1983. 

THAI CLASSICAL DANCE, FOLK DANCE AND MUSIC IN FRANCE 

AND ENGLAND. 

This was presented throughout most of August by 18 dancers and musicians 

from the Prasarnmit, Patumwan and Palasuksa campuses of Srinakharinwirot University 

by kind permission of the President, Dr. Nibhon Sasithorn, and heads of departments. 

The French part of the visit was largely under the sponsorship of the Comite 

des Fetes de Montoire who provided a bus to take the group from Paris to give a series 

of performances at folklore festivals at many small towns and villages but chiefly at 

Charolles, Macon, Felletin and at Montoire itself. These performances were usually 

preceeded by parades of the various participating groups, btb froJD france and abroad,


down the village streets in order to raise interest for the night shows. Audiences varied 

from one or two hundred in small villages up to over three thousand under ~he "bigtop'' 

at Montoire itself. Shows were given in converted open-air farmyards and public 

parks as well as in warehouses, gymnasiums, castle ruins and .under canvas. Two 

performances were also given in churches and one in a hospital for paraphlegics which 

included dining with, and helping to feed, the inmates. 

· Sleeping arrangements were usually provided at school dormitories which led 

to some interesting situations when "lights-out" occurred in the middle of the Thai 

midnight suppers, one or two near international incidents were avoided by the exercise 

of good sense. 

Other nations represented at some of the bigger festivals included Belgium, 

Spain, Finland, Israel, Greece, Turkey, Yugoslavia and Romania. ·From further afi"eld 

came Nigeria and Hawaii whilst many French regional groups were also included in 

many places. Programmes were very varied ranging from the almost undiluted gymnastics 

of Nigeria through the regional square dances of France and the furiously energetic 

folk dances of the Balkans. The Thai troupe were considered to be the most classic 

and it was gratifying to find that the great effort that had been put into preparing 

adequate programmes in both French and E.nglish so that spectators would have a good 

idea of what was going on, was appreciated at many venues. 

Possibly one of the greatest problems encountered was in the provision of familiar 

food. Kind hosts would not believe that almost anything was acceptable provided 

there was an adequate provision of plain boiled rice to accompany it. Excellent food 

was often wasted as it was unknown and no rice was served. The problem was partly 

solved by the institution of "midnight picnics" consisting of instant dried noodles in 

the dormitory after the return from giving the late night show, but it sometimes meant 

a long and empty wait throughout the day for unadventurous eaters. Copious supplies 

of noodles were indeed packed into every free crevice in the instrument boxes (a precaution 

learned from previous expeditions) and the group was delighted when the Royal 

Thai Embassy in Paris managed to get the huge heaps of baggage past the airport customs 

without any inspection whatever. It might have been difficult to explain that the 

whole consignment was for personal consumption and not about to be used to stock up 

a Thai restaurant in Paris for the next six months. The Ambassador, Khun Owart 

Suthiwartnarueput, even went one better upon the group's departure and provided a 

Thai meal at the station in Paris : this was much appreciated. 

After three weeks touring in central France all left for London to be greeted 

by Dr. Donald Mitchell, Director of Music Studies at the Britten-Pears School for 

Advanced Music Studies at Aldeburgh. No time was lost in getting down to rehearsal


for the Promenade Concert performance to be given under the auspices of the BBC in 

the Royal Albert Hall on 22nd August. This was to be used by both sound radio and, 

later, by television and was to be only the second time that a group from Southeast 

Asia had been invited to perform in the 87 year history of the "Proms". 

Many hours of rehearsals in different BBC studios culminated in a commendable 

performance which included khon excerpts, folk dances and classical musical showpieces. 

The promenaders amongst the audience, which had been somewhat at ease on 

the hall floor during the preceeding item, a Messiaen organ recital, rose to their feet 

and remained pressed to the bar of the orchestra pit during the whole of the so' minute 

Thai programme. Most major music critics, particularly those from "The Times" and 

"The Daily Telegraph", gave favourable reports two days later. 

The Ambassador to Britain, Khun Phan Wannamethee, gave an excellent reception 

at the Embassy after the performance and it was only with great difficulty that all 

could be extracted, and despatched to their billets, around I a.m. : two shows were 

scheduled up on the east coast at Aldeburgh next day and an early start was called for. 

Before returning to Thailand one additional sound recording was made for the BBC, 

this is the third programme that has been recorded by Srinakharinwirot University 

groups in the course of the past four years. 

In addition to the invaluable FF 20,000 subvention provided by M. Jean 

Francais Proux and his festival committee at Montoire towards airfares, the considerable 

sum of Baht 270,000 was also donated by banks and business houses (listed elsewhere) 

with Thai/French, and Thai/British connections. To this support must be added 

that from the Anglo-Thai Society in London, chaired by Sir Arthur de Ia Mare, an ex 

Ambassador to Thailand, and his Honorary Secretary Mr. John Milner, and of course 

the fees from the BBC itself. These funds ensured that the tour remained viable and 

it would have been quite impossible to ensure so far, for so long, without adequate 

financial back-up. The Siam Society, which received prominent billing in the 7,500 

French and English language programmes personally printed free-of-charge by Khun 

Suk Soongsawang of D.K. Bookhouse, is most grateful to all who gave support in both 

cash, or kind, and hopes that all generous sponsors will not feel that their assistance 

has been wasted. 

LUANG PRADIT PAIROH FOUNDATION. 

Funds were voted to support the objectives of this musical foundation launched 

by Khunying Chin Silapabanleng, the celebrated musician's daughter, and a group of 

supporters in early 1981. Recordings were made of some of the more rare as well as 

some of the better known compositions by a group of distinguished musicians. They 

were made both privately and at a special programme commemorating the late Luang 

Pradit at the National Theatre in August. The Society hopes to receive copies of all 

the recordings, and of the publications, in due course.


TEMPLE MURALS PRESERVATION. 

In cooperation with the Siamese Architects Association, the Society assi~ted in 

negotiations to obtain a grant of Baht 200,000 from the Siam Cement Company, to 

preserve murals dating from the Third Reign in Wat Bangkhanun, Klong Bangkok 

Noi, Nonthaburi. The Society successfully concluded arrangements with the Fine Arts 

Department, the provincial government and the Abbot to allow this work to proceed. 

Surviving murals at Wat Bangyikan, also dating from the Third Reign, will also 

benefit from a grant to be made by the management of the European Asian Bank as 

their principal contribution towards the Rattanakosin Bicentennial Celebrations. The 

Society has obtained permission from the Fine Arts Department for this work to proceed. 

It will be placed under the control of Khun Wannipha na Songkla of the F.A.D. 

who has already completed some most successful preservation projects at Wat Boworn, 

Wat Suthat and Wat Phrakeo. She was responsible for the work at Wat Kok in 

Rajburi about 7 years ago. 

COMMITTEE MEMBERS. 




M.C. Subhadradis Diskul 

Mrs. Virginia Di Crocco 

Dr. Piriya Krairiksh 


Chairman

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

The Siam Society acknowledges with grateful thanks the contributions received, 

both in cash and in kind, from th.e following generous and public-spirited sponsors: 

Bangkok: AIR FRANCE 

ANGLO-THAI (BANGKOK) LTD. 

BANGKOK BANK LTD. 

BANK OF A YUDHYA LTD. 

BOON RAWD BREWERY COMPANY LTD. 

THE BORNEO COMPANY (THAILAND) LTD. 

MISS DAPHNE COLWELL & ESCAP TRANSLATION TEAM 

THE CHARTERED BANK 

D.K. BOOKHOUSE 

JARDINE MATHESON & CO., (SOUTH EAST ASIA) LTD. 

LEVER BROTHERS (THAILAND) LTD. 

LOUIS T. LEONOWENS LTD. 

THE ROYAL BANGKOK SPORTS CLUB 

THE SHELL COMPANY OF THAILAND LTD. 

SHINAWATRA FASHION HOUSE 

SOCIETE GENERALE 

THAI MELON POLYESTER CO., LTD. 

THAI PURE DRINKS LTD. 

OVERSEAS CONTAINERS LTD. 

THAI FARMERS BANK. 

France: M. ACHILLE CLARAC & M. HENRI PAGAU-CLARAC 

ASSOCIATION DE CULTURES ET TRADITIONS DU SUD-EST 

ASIATIQUE, MACON 

COMITE DES FETES ET LOISIRS DE MONTOIRE-SUR-LOIRE 

England: ALDEBURGH FESTIVAL-SNAPE MALTINGS FOUNDATION 

ANGLO-THAI CORPORATION LTD. 

BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION 

INCHCAPE AND COMPANY LTD. 

KILLICK MARTIN & CO., LTD. 

LOUIS T. LEONOWENS LTD. 

DR DONALD MITCHELL 

NATIONAL-WESTMINSTER BANK LTD. 

PAULING AND COMPANY LTD. 

STANDARD CHARTERED BANK LTD. 

VISITING ARTS UNIT 

212


The Society is particularly grateful to Air France for their very considerable 

assistance with both airfares and transportation of instruments and costumes. Mention 

should also be made of the very substantial contributions received from the Comite 

des Fetes at Montoire, the Bangkok Bank, London Branch and the Thai Farmers Bank. 

Without this assistance, and that of all the other contributors mentioned above this tour 

could not have been undertaken by the dancers and musicians of Srinakharinwirot 

University in Bangkok.

LIST OF PAID-UP MEMBERS, 1982 

"'DENOTES LIFE MEMBER 

* Mr. Hisashi Abe 

* Mom Kobkaew Abhakara Na Ayudhya 

* Prof. ArthurS. Abramson 

Mr. Klaus M. Ackermann 

* Mr. A.C.S. Adams 

Mr. A. Peter Adcock 

* Mrs. V.T. Adloff 

Mr. Osamu Akaqi 

Mr. M.V. Akbar 

Luang Pracherd Aksorlaksana 

* Mr. A. Alexander 

* Mr. P.J. Alexander 

* Mr. Anvar T. Aliakbar 

Mrs. Catherine E. Allen 

Mr. Chalie Amatyakul 

* Mr. Pricha Amatyakul 

* Mr. Pinglasvasti Amranand 

* Mr. Piyasvasti Amranand 

* Mr. Vidusvasti Amranand 

* Dr. E. Ammundsen 

Mr. Diethard Ande 

Ms. Annabel Anderson 

Miss Donna J. Anderson 

* Dr. Douglas D. Anderson 

Mr. Hans G. Andersen 

* Mr. Hiroshi An do 

Mrs. Josefine Andorfer 

* H.E. Mr. G. Andre 

Miss Nicole Andrews 

Mr. David I. Andrianoff 

* Miss Mary Anglemyer 

Miss Boonchua Ankapradit 

* Prof. Edward M. Anthony 

Mr. William Aoustin 

* Mr. Yoji Aoyagi 

* Mr. Hachiro Arai 

Mr. Alain Archambault 

Mr. C. Archaimbault 

Mr. Ray Archer 

Mr. H. Gunther Arlt 

Dr. Woraphat Arthayukti 

* Mr. Charles D. Arthur 

Mr. William P. Ashdown 

* Mr. Yehuda Assia 

Dr. Phanupong Asvakiat 

Mrs. Dorothy C. Asumendi 

Mr. Siva Asva Asvakiat 

Miss Ratana Athirakool 

* Mr. Kim Atkinson 

* Mr. Bunchana Atthakorn 

* Mr. B. Atthakorn 

Mrs. Khy Hlahla Aung 

Mrs. Betty M. A very 

* Prof. Tsuneo Ayabe 

Mr. Kenneth R. Ayer 

Mr. Liam Ayudhrij 

Miss Kathleen Badger 

Dr. Christopher Baker 

* Mr. Michael H. Baker 

* Dr. R. Balakrishna 

* Mr. Daroon Balasiri 

Mr. John M. Ball 

* Mr. Dieter-Maria Balzar 

• Miss Banchop Bandhumedha 

* Mr. Dharmadasa Banij 

Mr. Dusit Banijbatana 

* Prof. P.V. Bapat 

* Dr. G. Bare 

214


215 

• Mr. G.R.D. Barker 

Mr. J.N.A. Barnes 

Mr. D. Barrett 

* Mr. Norman Bartlett 

Mr. James R. Basche 

"' Mr. Douglas N. Batson 

Mr. Erwin Baumann 

Mr. Josef Baumgartner 

Mr. Robert M. Bayliss 

Miss Helene Beaupere 

Prof. Dr. Heinz Bechert 

Miss. Anns Beck 

* Dr. Damrong Bejrablaya 

Mr. Konrad Bekker 

Mr. Geoffrey Bell 

Mr. Kittisak Bencharit 

* Mr. Paul J. Bennett 

Mr. Richard H. Bennison 

Mr. Arthur E. Berger 

Mrs. Marie M. Berlingieri 

Mr. Mel T. Bernard 

Mr. Massimo Bernardinelli 

Mrs. F. Bertin 

Mr. Klaus D. Bettenhausen 

* Miss Chamrieng Bhavichitra 

* Mr. Robert J. Bickner 

Mr. JanBierdrager 

Mr. Maurice Bigoin 

Mr. Fred Bild 

Dr. George A. Binnew 

Dr. Med. Ernst W. Birmele 

Mr. Brian Birley 

Mr. Kurt Bischof 

Mrs. Mona M. Bittenbender 

Miss lnga Bjorkroth 

* Mr. Otto Bjorling 

• Mr. J. Black 

Mrs. Beryl Blacka 

Mrs. Patricia J. Blackburn 

Mr. John Blofeld 

Mr. David J. Bluford 

Mr. Robert Boca 

* Mr. J.J. Boeles 

Prof. Dr. Ernest Boesch 

Mr. Marc Bogerd 

H.E. Mr. Rudolf Bogner 

* Prof. Jean Boisselier 

Mr. Richard N. Bones 

Mr. Simon Bonython 

* Mr. Thanongsak Boonyarungsrit 

Mr. William Booth 

Mr. Denis Borel 

Miss Christine Borgeaud 

Mr. Richard Borsuk 

Mr. Alexander H. Borthwick 

Dr. Meredith Borthwick 

Mrs. Marcelle Boschan 

Mr. Huysmans Boudewijn 

Mrs. Robert G. Boughey 

Mr. Jean Boulbet 

* Mr. Carroll G. Bowen 

Miss Henrietta A.B. Bouman 

Miss Delores Boyer 

Dr. David Bradley 

Dr. William L. Bradley 

* Mr. Heinz Braendli 

Dr. Niged J. Brailey 

Mrs. S.L. Bramley 

Mr. Leo F. Brandenberg 

* Mr. Kennon Breazeale 

Mr. Hermann Brecheisen 

Mr. Thor W. Brehmer 

Mr. Rainer Breitfeld 

Mr. Walter Brenneis

216 

Dr. R. Peter Brenner 

* Ms. Bonita Brereton 

Mrs. Lesleya Brewin 

Dr. Colin M. Britton 

Dr. Warren Brockelman 

Mr. Jean C. Brodbeck 

* Mr. Jere Broh-Kahn 

* Dr. John F. Brohm 

Miss Emma R. Broisman 

Mr. Bennet Bronson 

Mr. Daniel J. Brooks 

Mr. Michael D. Brown 

Miss Roxanna M. Brown 

Mr. Han ten Brummelhuis 

Mr. Viggo Brun 

Mr. Michel Bruneau 

Mrs. Doris Brunner 

* Mr. Prakit Buabusaya 

Maj. Gen. Prasert Buabusya 

Prof. Saroj Buasri 

Mrs. Janinc Buhrman 

. Miss Rachaniwan Bulakul 

• Mrs. L.C. Edna Bulkley 

Mr. William Bunch 

* Mr. Danuj Bunnag 

Mr. Marut Bunnag 

* Dr. Tej Bunnag 

* Mr. Munt Buranasiri 

Mrs. Vilaileka Buranasiri 

* Mrs. Katherine Buri 

* Mrs. Prapai S. Buri 

* Mrs. Prapar N. Buri 

* Mr. Prasarn B. Buri 

* Mr. Prasit Buri 

Dr. Rachit Buri 

Mr. Herbert 0. Burri 

* Mr. WilliamS. Burtenshaw 


Mr. John J.S. Burton 

Miss Victoria Butler 

Mr. John Cairncross 

* Mr. C.M. Callaway 

Mr. Alan Cameron 

Mrs. Sheilah Campbell 

Lt. Col. Donald J. Cann 

Mr. Gary W. Carlson 

* Mr. Timothy Carney 

* Mr. G.D. Carpenter 

* Mrs. Carroll L. Cartwright 

Miss Kathy Cedilnik 

Mr. Suchint Chaimungkalanont 

Mr. Tana Chaivorapat 

* H.R.H. Prince Chalermbol Yukala 

Dr. James R. Chamberlain 

Mr. Varyl M.H. Chamberlain 

* Miss Chusiri Chamaraman 

Mr. Chalaw Chamoraman 

* Mr. Abhai Chandavimol 

Mr. Albert T. Chandler 

Mr. David P. Chandler 

* M.C. Sasavin Chandratat 

Mrs. Wanpen Chandr-Virochana 

Mr. Wiwat Chandrvirot 

Mr. Y.H. Chang 

* Mr. Damrong Changtrakul 

Mrs. Chanpen Charoenchitt 

* Mr. Manop Charoensuk 

Miss Moniyue G. Charrier 

* Prof. S.K. Chatterji 

Prof. Dr. Kamheang Chaturachinda 

Mr. Paul Chauzat 

* Mr. Chamras Chayabongse 

* Miss Seela Chayaniyayodhin 

Mr. Chetta P.C. Cheng 

Mr. Sumedh Chhim


217 

Mr. Chatri Chirarapurk 

* Mr. C.F. Chicarelli Jr. 

Miss Ganigar Chinachote 

Mr. Charoon Chinalai 

Dr. Preeda Chitarachinda 

Dr. Hatai Chitanondh 

Miss Toogbai Chittamongkol 

Miss Bancha Chittibhol 

Miss Kotchakorn Chivakunakorn 

Miss Nancy Chng 

Mrs. Francoise Chomthongdi 

* Miss U. Chongpipatanasook 

Mr. Bangkok Chowkwanyun 

* Mr. Chow Chowkwanyun 

Mrs. Evelyn Chowkwanyun 

Dr. John J. Christian 

Mr. James Christie 

Mr. Tom Chuawiwat 

Mr. Christopher J.A. Chubb 

* M.R. Doangchai Chumbala 

Mr. Pradit Chungkla 

Mrs. Saisuree Chutikul 

* Miss Krongthong Chutima 

Mrs. Oon Chutima 

Mr. Sanit Chutintaranond 

* Mrs. Nandana Chutiwongs 

Mr. C.A. Clarac 

Mr. G.C. Clark 

Dr. Harry R. Clarke 

Mr. Erroll D. Coles 

Miss Lucy Coltman 

Mr. T.H. Commins 

* Prof. Georges Condominas 

Mrs. Patchrie Conrad 

Mr. Consigny 

Miss Nerida M. Cook 

* Mr. Robert N. Cook Jr. 

Miss Mary N. Cooke 

Mrs. Teresa Cooney 

Mr. Edward J. Cooper Jr. 

* Mr. J. Corman 

Mr. R. Coster 

Dr. Conrad P. Cotter 

Mr. Bruce E. Cox 

Mr. Peter Cox 

Mrs. P.L. Creasy 

Mr. Ronald J. Crista! 

Mrs. Lois E. Crittenden 

Miss Margaret Crowley 

Mr. Jean Crozatier 

Mr. Richmond Cubis 

* Mr. J.L. Culbertson 

Mr. James R. Cullen 

* Mr. William H. Cummings 

* Dr. Richard D. Cushman 

Mr. Lawrence Oaks 

* Mr. Lance Dane 

Mrs. Ans Dankers 

* Mr. Chitra Dansuputra 

Mr. S.J. Davies 

Mr. James E. Davis 

Mrs. Jean Davis 

* Mr. Richard B. Davis 

Mrs. Martine Dean 

Miss Nerina De Angelis 

Mr. Jacques de Barrin 

Miss Chantal de Boisboissel 

Prof. Dr. Johannes G. de Casparis 

* Mr. A.I. de Courcy Lyons 

Mrs. Eileen Deeley 

· Mrs. J. De Fels 

* Miss Sukanya Dej-Udom 

Dr. Jose Eduardo De Mello-Gouveia 

Dr. Eugene Denis, S.J.

218 

• Mr. Ulrich Dennerlein 

Mr. Edward de Renzie Brown 

Mr. G. de Rougemont 

Mr. John de Salis 

Mrs. Paulette de SchaUer 

M.R. Anongdevan Devakul 

Mrs. Fee de Vallois 

Mr. David DeVoss 

• Ir. F.C. de Weger B.I. 

* Miss Chalermsri Dhamabutra 

* Mr. Phadhadej Dhamcharee 

• H.E. Mr. Sanya Dharmasakti 

Mrs. Francine Dhesse 

* Mr. Edward Dickinson 

" Mr. W. Dickinson 

Mrs. J.V. Di Crocco 

Mr. Ludo Dieltjens 

Mr. Dirk J. Dijkstra 

.Dr. Anthony Diller 

Miss Rebecca Dirks 

* H.S.H. Princess Ma~ayat Diskul 

H.S.H. Princess Patralada Diskul 

* H.S.H. Prince Subhadradis Diskul 

Dr. Edward B. Doberstyn 

Mr. Robert J. Dobias 

Mr. Michael T. Dockerty 

* Mr. John Dodds 

* Reverend Paul S. Dodge · 

Mr. Francis H. Dong 

Mrs. Velvet Eve Douglas 

Mr. John B. Downs 

* Mr. Svend H. Drachmann 

·Mr. C.W. Drewes 

Mrs. Shirley Duboff 3 

Mr. Jacques Dubois 

Mr. Sol G. Dubroof 

Mr. Ernest Duchamp 


Mr. Gerard Dudeffend 

Mrs. Anne Coude du Foresto 

Mr. Peter Duhse 

Mr. Vincent A. Eagan 

Mr. John B. Eastman 

Mr. Alfred F. Eberhardt 

Mr. Krister Eduargs 

Mr. Axel Edelstam 

Mr. Peter Edwards 

Prof. Srbren Egerod 

Mr. Michael Eiland 

Mrs. Maly Ekaritbutr 

• Mrs. Kamala Sukhabanj Eksaengsri 

Miss Pitasana Ek-une 

Mr. Donald C. Elison 

Dr. Richard Engelhardt 

Mr. Jan B. Eriksson 

* The Viscount Errington 

Dr. Lorette Etienne-Amberg 

* Dr. Egon A. Ettinger 

Mr. R.G. Evans 

Mr. William D. Evans 

Mr. John L. Everingham 

Prof. H.D. Evers 

Mr. Fernand Falchier 

Mr. David Feeny 

* Prof. David A. Feingold 

Mr. J.P. Ferguson 

Mrs. Dorothy H. Fickle 

Mrs. Monkia L. Fischer 

Dr. Kenneth S. Fischer 

Mr. Richard Flaspohler 

Prof. Dr. Gerhand Platz 

Mrs. Piyathida Flores 

Mrs. Eva-Maria Forsberg 

Mr. Lawrence T. Forman 

Mr. Angus Hamish Forsyth


219 

Mr. Brian L. Foster 

Mr. Stephen R. Fox 

Mr. Jean Lvu Francois 

* Mr. H.G. Frandsen 

Mrs. Beverly Frankel 

* Mr. Dean Frasche · 

Mr. P.R.N. Fraymouth 

* Mr. James W.D. Fransche 

Mr. Lars E. Fredberg 

Mr. Douglas Frewer 

Mr. Etienne Friang 

* Mr. H. Frijlink 

Prof. Riichiro Fujiwara 

Mr. N.J. Funston 

Mr. Louis Gabaude 

* M.R. Rosalin Gagananga 

Miss A. Jean Gainor 

* Mr. Bo Khin Maung Gale 

Mrs. Michele L. Galopin 

Mr. Marcel Gambert 

* Mr. George F. Gant 

Mr. Albert Garaboeuf 

Dr. Richard A. Gard 

Dr. Damn ern Garden 

Mr. Derick Garnier 

Mrs. Lada R. Gasikorn 

Dr. Reto F. Gass 

Mr. Benjamin Gassmann 

Mr. Marcel F. Gautschi 

Mrs. J. Gaw 

* Dr. William Gedney 

Dr. David Gee-Clough 

Mr. P.F. Geithner 

Mrs. Ruth Gerson 

* Mr. T.W. Gething 

* H.E. Mr. John I. Getz 

* Mr. Hugh Gibb 

Mr. I.M. Gibson 

Mr. Ress Gilles 

Mr. Rod M. Gillespie 

Mrs. Asa Gim 

Mr. Ulf Glattkowski 

* Mr. Gunther Glauninger 

Mrs. Tatyana Goldenshtein 

Mr. Ilya Goldenshtein 

Mr. Richard Goldrick 

Mr. S. Gonge 

Mr. R.F. Goninon 

* Mr. Betty Gosling 

Prof. L.A. Peter Gosling 

* Mr. D.C. Goss 

* Dr. JosephS. Gould 

Mr. Mark Graham 

Mr. Terry B. Grandstaff 

Mr. Denis D. Gray 

Mrs. Janine J. Gray 

Mrs. Myrtue Greenwalt 

Mr. Ronald H. Greer 

* Dr. M.E. Griffith 

* Mr. A.B. Griswold 

* Dr. Pracha Gunakasem 

Mr. Bo Gustavsson 

* Mr. F.G. Groarke 

* Dr. B.P. Groslier 

Mr. Paul M. Grostad 

* Mrs. U.L. Guehler 

Mr. Kurt Guenther 

Miss Georgia Guldan 

* Mrs. Malinee Gumperayarnnont 

Mr. Geoffrey Gunn 

Mr. James F. Guyot 

Mr. Michel Guyot 

* Dr. Mary R. Haas 

Dr. J.A. Hafner

220 

Dr. Klaus Hahlweg 

Mr. Jorgen Hage 

Mr~ David L. Hagen 

* Mr. Hiromitsu Hakari 

Mr. Jamer W. Hamilton 

Mr. Chris Hampton 

Mr. John W. Hancock 

* Dr. Lucien M. Hanks Jr. 

Mrs. Kate A. Hansen 

Mr. Per Svane Hansen 

Dr. Vagn Hansen 

Mr. Heather Hanson 

* Mrs. Barbara Ann Harding 

Mr. Hugh C. Harries 

* Mrs. Adda M. Hartman 

* Mr. John F. Hartman 

Mr. Peter Hartog 

* Mr. J.D. Hastings 

Mrs. Kyoko Hayashi 

Mr. Victor C. Heard 

Mrs. Elizabeth Heatherington 

Mrs. Gudrun Heckel 

Mr. Hanspeter Heckendorn 

Mr. F.L. Heider 

Mr. William E. Heinecke 

Dr. H.W. Heitmann 

Miss E.J.A. Henderson 

* Mr. Max E. Herman 

Mr. Knut Herzer 

* Dr. George Heuser 

Mr. Kevin J. Hewison 

Dr. Takeo Hibino 

Mr. A.R. Hickson 

* Mr. Boonchvey Hiranpruk 

Prof. Herman L. Hoeh 

Mr. Albert R. Hofmann 

Mr. D.W. Hogan 


* Mr. Richard M. Hollander 

Mr. David F. Holm 

* Mr. Jorgen Holm 

* Mr. Derek A. Holmes 

Sir James R. Holt, K.B.E. 

Mr. H.W. Homan 

* H.E. Sunthom Hongladarom 

H.E. Sommai Hoontrakool 

Mr. G. Hoppe 

Mr. Fritz Hops 

Mr. T. Hoshino 

Dr. Piet-Hein Houben 

Mr. Stephen M. Hourigan 

Mr. David W. Howard 

* Mr. Nid H. Shiranan 

* Mr. Thomas i. Hudak 

Major Roy Hudson 

Prof. F.E. Huffman 

Mr. Urs Hufschmid 

Mr. J.W. Huguet 

Mrs. Alice M. Hunnicutt 

Mr. Toum Hutasing 

* Mr. C.K. Hyland 

Mr. Jorgen Hylleberg 

* Mr. Shig~ru Iijima 

Mr. Christian Immer 

* Mr. Marcel Indergand 

Mr. Chainarong Indharameesup 

Miss Pinna Indorf 

Mr. A morn Indrakamhang 

Mr. Boon lndrambarya 

Mrs. Phasook Indrawooth 

Mr. Narin Indhewat 

Mr. Jerry Ingeman 

* Mr. Jasper Ingersoll 

Mr. Apichart Intravisit 

* Mr. Vadhana Isarabhakdi


221 

"' Khunying Tasniya Isarasena Punyagupt 

* Prof. Y oneo Ishii 

* Mrs. Thavee lsrasena 

Mr. Shoji Ito 

* Mr. Y. lwaki 

* Prof. K. lwatsuki 

Mr. J. Kenneth Jackson 

Mrs. Marilyn A. Jackson 

Mr. William A. Jackson 

Mr. Claude Jacques 

Ms. Samsiah A. Jajid 

* Mr. R. Campbell James 

Mr. Gustav A. Jamnig 

Mr. Joergen Jantzen 

Mr. Hermann Janzen 

Mr. Jean-Didier Javet 

Mr. Charles Javssi 

* M.R. Patanachai Jayant 

Miss Pranee Jiramahasuwan 

* Mr. Piya Jittalan 

Dr. Nirund Jivasantikarn 

Dr. Wicha Jiwalai 

Mr. Thomas Johnson 

Mr. Thomas Eric Johnson 

* U. Alexis Johnson 

Dr. David Johnston 

* Mr. P.A. Jones 

Mr. Ronald K. Jones 

Mr. Anders B. Jorgensen 

* Miss Ina Jorgensen 

Mr. E.E. Jornbeck 

* Mr. Sunthorn Jubandhu 

* Dr. Laurence C. Judd 

M.C. Sita Jumbala 

* Brig. Gen. M.L. Manich Jumsai 

Dr. Sumet Jumsai 

Mr. Z.T. Kajiji 

Dr. M.L. Ekjai Kambhu 

* M.L. Jidjeua Kambhu 

Mr. Kurt Kammholz 

* Mr. Charn C. Kanchanagom 

Mr. Peter K. Kandre 

* Mr. Samran Kalayanaroj 

M.R. Romaniyachat Kaeokiriya 

Mr. Sukri Kaocharern 

* Miss Karnitha Karnchanachari 

Prof. Dr. Otto Karow 

* M.R. Nitivataya Kasemsri 

* M.R. Saengsome Kasemsri 

* Prof. H.E. Kauffmann 

* Dr. Howard K. Kaufman 

Mrs. Erika Kaufmann 

Miss Marja L. Kauppinen 

Mr. Peter Kauz 

Dr. Harvey Kayman 

Mr. Kunio Kawakami 

* Mrs. I. W. Kellogg 

Mr. Kim S. Kendall 

Miss Jean Kennedy 

Miss Sunantha Keotabhand 

Mr. Joseph F. Kerch 

Miss Mattana Ketkamon 

* Dr. Ouay Ketusingh 

* Prof. Charles F. Keyes 

* Dr. Thanat Khoman 

* Mr. Xob Khongkhakul 

Mr. Hong Chuan Khoo 

Mr. Lawrence Khor 

Mr. Sokichi Kimura 

Mr. Norman Yan Kin 

Mr. J.M.E. Kindl 

* Mr. G. Kingma 

"' Dr. Konrad King shill 

"'Mr. J.H. Kinoshita

222 

Mr. Wolf Kirmayer 

* Prof. A. Thomas Krisch 

• Mr. Atsushi Kitahara 

* M.L. Plaichumpol Kitiyakara 

Mrs. Penelope M. Klap 

Mrs. Ellis E.M.E. Klarenbeek 

Mr. Bewulf K. Klebert 

Mr. Wolfgang Klemer 

Mr. M. Mck Kliks 

Mr. Klaus Klinke 

Mr. D.M. Knapp 

Mr. F.W.A. Knight 

Mr. Michael A. Knowles 

Mrs. Ulrike Koelver 

Mr. Manfred U. Kohler 

Mr. Hirobaru Koike 

Miss Aramsri Kompanthong 

Mr. Michio Komuro 

Mr. Fatt Kiew Kon 

Mrs, Sunetra Kongsiri 

Prof. Irving Kopf 

Mr. H.R. Korff 

Dr. Roy J. Korn 

Mrs. Margaret Kosbab 

Mr. Osot Kosin 

Miss Khaipipat Kosiyakul 

Mr. Didrik Krag 

* Dr. Piriya Krairiksh 

* Dr. Chittrapat Krairiksh 

Mr. R.L. Kranker 

M.L. Taw Kritakara 

Mr. Alongkorn Krityarut 

Mrs. Stanley Krug 

Mr. Gerard A.M. Kruse 

Mrs. Ulla Kruse 

Dr. Willy Kuenzel 

* Mr. Ernest Kuhn 


Mr. Cherdgiet Kulabutara 

Miss Nontaporn Kunakorn 

Mr. Bhornchai Kunalai 

Mr. Miles Kupa 

* Prof. Masanori Kuwahara 

Mr. Roshan Lall Kwatra 

Mr. E. Lachenauer 

Mrs. Alain Lacoste 

Mr. Charles Lamarche 

Miss A.B. Lambert 

Mr. Banthoon Lamsam 

* Miss Supawan Lamsam 

* Mr. Kenneth P. Landon 

H.E. Dr. Hans C. Lankes 

Dr. Charles C. Lantz 

Miss Supin Laohasirinadh 

Mrs. Maria Laosunthara 

Dr. Pijit Laosonthorn 

Prof. Kai Larsen 

* M.R. Salah Latavalya 

* Mr. Douglas A.J. Latchford 

Mrs. Lynette H. Laue 

Mr. Robert Lavery 

Mr. Patrick Laycock 

Miss Therese Le Baron 

Miss Sudarat Leerabhandh 

Mrs. Anne V. Leete 

Dr. H. Leedom Lefferts. Jr. 

Mr. Bernard Lefort 

Mr. F.K. Lehman 

* Dr. Boonsoong Lekakul 

Lt. Gen. Damnern Lekbakula 

Mr. Ah Bang Leo 

Miss Suree Lertprathanporn 

Mr. Stephen J. Lesiuk 

*Mr. L.E.C. Letts 

Mr.SanguanLewmanomont


223 

* Dr. Roger P. Lewis 

Mr. T.A. Lewis 

Mr. Charles H. Ley 

* H. E. Monsieur Han Lih-Wu 

Mrs. Pongpun Likanasudh 

Mr. Vivithya Likanasudh 

Mr. H.H. Lim 

Mr. Preedeeporn Limcharoen 

* Mrs. M. Linck 

* Mr. Herbert Link 

Mrs. Monika Link 

Mr. Paul Lo 

Mr. Beat R. Lobsiger 

Mrs. Catherine M. Loehr 

Mr. Wichien Loetsuraphibun 

Mrs. Sujaree Logavit 

Prof. Denys Lombard. 

Mr. Frank Lombard 

* Dr. H.H.E. Loofs 

* Mrs. Reid un Loose 

Mr. Peter Loverde 

Mrs. Sylvia Lu 

Dr. Guy Lubeigt 

Mr. Graham J. Lucas 

Dr. Niegel J. Lucas 

* Prof. Gordon H. Luce 

Dr. Harvey F. Ludwing 

* Mr. R. Lueke 

* Ambassador Ivar Lunde 

Miss Jeranai Lunsucheep 

Mrs. Pornsri Luphaiboon 

Mrs. Albert Lyman 

* Miss Elizabeth Lyons 

* Mr. C.S.I. Mabbatt 

* Mrs. C.S.I. Mabbatt 

Mr. C.R. Maberly 

Mr. Robert R.S. MacDonald 

* Mr. John A.G. MacDermott 

Mr. Michael B. Magnani 

Mr. Prateep Mahasuwan 

Mr. Jisa Makarasara 

M.L. Pin Malakul 

Miss Pikul Malasiddh 

* Mr. Ariyant Manjikul 

Dr. P.Y. Manguin 

" Mrs. C. Mangskau 

Mr. William L. Mann 

Mrs. Mette K. Manoharan 

Mrs. Alfred L. Marks 

* Mr. Michel Marliere 

Mr. F.H. Marsh 

Mr. John A. Marsteller 

Mr. G.A. Martin 

* Mr. F.W.C. Martin 

Miss Marie A. Martin 

Mr. Gordon Mason 

Mr. Rasheed A. Maskati 

Mr. Dominique S. Mathevet 

Dr. Kathleen Matics 

Prof. Osamu Matsuyama 

* Mr. Tetsuya Matsumoto 

Mr. G.N. Mauger 

Mr. Robert B. Muale 

* Mr. Perry Mavro 

* Mr. Wilhelm Mayer 

Mrs. Machiko McAlister 

Mrs. William T. McCabe 

* Mr. Robert P. McDevitt 

Mr. Gava McDonell 

Mr. Forrest McGill 

Miss Edna C. McGuire 

Mr. Robert J. McKeon 

Mrs. Sarah McLean 

Mrs. Miriam McNair-Scott

224 

Mr. Jeffrey A. McNeely 

Dr. Ruth McVey 

"' Miss Kanitta Meesook 

* Khunying Amphorn Meesook 

Mrs. Samira Meghaessian 

Mr. Charles B. Mehl 

Miss Ho Chui Mei 

"' Mr. K. William Melchers 

Mrs. Bruno Mercier 

Mr. Christian Meric 

Mr. Claude Meyer 

Mr. Niti K. Meyer 

Mr. Jukka 0. Miettinen 

Mrs. Mary A. Milecki 

Mrs. Gwen S. Millager 

Mr. Terry E. Miller 

Mr. Frank Minnick 

Mrs. Susan M. Mirkes 

Dr. Roland Mischung 

* Dr. Donald Mitchell 

Mr. Sidney S. Mitchell 

Miss Thida Mitrakul 

"' Mr. Sunao Miyahara 

* Mr. Koichi Mizuno 

Mr. Roger Montgomery 

Mrs. Elizabeth Moore 

Mr. Werner Morf 

Mr. John M. Morgan 

* Mr. G.H. Morgan 

Mr. Thomas E. Morgan 

Dr. Grace Morley 

* Dr. Harold S. Morris 

Mr. A.R.G. Morrison 

Mr. Peter M. Motzfeldt 

Miss Berbara Mountfield 

Dr. Majorie A. Muecke 

Mr. Kurt A. Mueller 


* Miss Jean Mulholland 

Mr. N.A. Mundhenk 

*Dr. Wiwat Mungkandi 

* Mr. Eiji Murashima 

Mr. Joseph J. Murrie 

* Mrs. Renuka Musikasinthom 

Mr. Hans Naegeli 

Mr. Hiroshi Nagai 

Mr. Tsugio Nagai 

* Dr. Chetana Nagavajara 

Mr. Otto Nagler 

Mr. Prakhan Namthip 

"' Prof. Prasert Na Nagara 

Miss Chomsri Nanthavanich 

*Mrs. Wanida Nanthavanij 

Mr. Dhirawat Na Pombejra 

* Mr. Vivadh Na Pombejra 

*Dr. Banpot Napompeth 

Mr. Cyril Nanshkin 

Mr. Rajeev Narula 

Mrs. Nongyao Narumit 

* Mr. Sirichai Narumit 

Mrs. Pomtip Narumpakorn 

* Mr. Wiraj Na Songkhla 

Mr. Dirk Naumann 

* Mr. Sukhum Navaphan 

Mr. Harald Neple 

Mr. Donald C.G. Newton 

Mrs. Pat Ngamsnit 

Mr. Carsten D. Nielsen 

Mr. Pierre J. Nicolas 

Miss Else M. Nielsen 

*Mr. Jan Nielsen 

* Prof. Boonyong Nikrodhananda 

Mr. Snoh Nilkamhaeng . 

* Miss lppa Nilubol 

* Dr. Kraisri Nimmanahaeminda


225 

Mr. Eric L. Nissen 

*Mr. Yoshimi Hitta 

Mr. Duncan Niven 

Mr. Harry L. Norlander 

*Mrs. R.G. North 

*Mr. Hans G. Oblander 

Dr. Taryo Obayashi 

Mr. Richard O'Connor 

Col. E.J. O'Donnell 

* Mr. Samuel C. Oglesby 

* Mr. Tadashi Okaniwa 

* Miss Laura Olson 

Mr. David Oot 

Mr. Surin Osathanugrah 

Dr. Milton Osborne 

Mr. Jacky Ott 

Dr. Jan Overbeek 

Mrs. Marika Overbeek 

Mr. Nigel F. Overy 

Mr. Muneto Ozaki 

Mrs. Sundri Paaopanchon 

Miss Feresita Padilla 


Mr. Spha Palasthira 

Mrs. Rita Palla 

* Mr. Prasat Panyarachun 

* Mr. E. Conrad Parkman 

*Dr. H.C. Parish 

Mr. Michael Parr 

M.L. Pawkaun Patamasingh 

Mrs. H.K. Patmo-(Mingoen) 

Mr. Lewis Pauker 

Mr. Alois Payer 

*Mr. Somnuk Pejrprim 

Mrs. David Penn 

* Dr. Hans Penth 

Mr. Geoffrey Percival 

Mr. J.P. Perguson 

*Mr. J. Perrin 

Mr. David M. Peter 

Mr. Donald L. Petrie 

Miss Malo Petterson 

Mr. Jurgen M. Pfeifer 

* Mr. S. Phataminviphas 

Mr. A.J. Phillips 

*Mr. Pinyo Phinainitisat 

Mr. Yong Pholabun 

Dr. Pasuk Phongpaichit 

• Mr. Harry H. Pierson 

Mr. C. Davis Pike 

Miss Christel Pilz 

* Khun Nilawan Pinthong 

* Prof. Duangduen Pisalbutra 

* Mr. Kaset Pitakpaivan 

Mr. Vagn G.A. Plenge 

Mr. Raymond Plion-Bernier 

Dr. Todd R. Poch 

Mrs. Bernadette Poidatz 

Mr. Henry P. Poli 

Mr. V.I. Ponomarev 

Miss Taraka Poontavee 

Mr. Vitavas Poshyachinda 

Mr. Derek R. Pott 

Mr. Tom Potworowski 

*Dr. Saveros Pou 

Mr. Jess G. Pourret 

Mr. Chun Prabhavivadhana 

* Mrs. Mira Prachabarn 

Miss Ninitra Prachuabmoh 

* M.R. Seni Pramoj 

Miss Promporn Pramualratana 

Mrs. Chittra Pranich 

Mrs. Madeleine Preisinger 

Mrs. Barry Price

226 

Mr. Russell Proctor 

* Dr. Sem Pring-Puang Kaew 

Luang Promadhat 

Mr. James B. Pruess 

Mr. Gobchai Puavilai 

Mrs. Siripen Puavilai 

Miss Chanchai Puckadhikom 

Miss Mathilda Punaraksha 

Mr. Henri Punta 

* Mr. Tos Puntumasen 

Mrs. Penkae Puntusang 

* Dr. Chaloem Puranananda 

* Mr. Chamikom Puranananda 

*Dr. Herbert C. Purnell 

Mrs. Sophia W. Quinn-Judge 

Mr. J. Race 

Dr. Jeremy J. Raemaekers 

Mr. Dacre F.A. Raikes 

* Gen. Rasmee Rajanivat 

Mr. M. Rajaretnam 

* H.S.H. Prince Piyarangsit Rangsit 

* Mom Chao Sanidh Rangsit 

Mrs. L. Rasmussen 

Dr. Prasob Ratanakorn 

Mr. Preecha Ratanodom 

Miss Wiph:a Ratanodom 

Mr. Bhichai Rattakul 

"' Mr. Thomas H. Rau 

Mrs. Susan R. Real 

Mr. Antonia Realacci 

Dr. Karl Reichstetter 

Mr. John M. Reid 

Mr. Ronald D. Renard 

Mrs. Carol Kim Retka 

Mr. Nicolas Revenga 

Mr. Craig J. Reynolds 

Mr. Hans A. Ries 


*Prof. Fred W. Riggs 

* Mrs. Susan G. Riley 

Mr. William M. Riley 

Mrs. R.S. Ringis 

Mr. Francesco Ripandelli 

* Mr. Serge Rips 

Mr. Edward A. Roberts 

Mr. George B. Roberts 

Mr. Kevin W. Robertson 

Miss M.S. Robertson 

Mr. L.W.G. Robson 

Mrs. Joy Rogers 

Mrs. Sarapee Rojanavongse 

Miss Kittiporn Rojchanayotin 

Mr. James P. Rooney 

Mr. Edward K. Rose 

Dr. Klaus Rosenberg 

Mr. Ronald Rosenberg 

Miss Laurie Rosenthal 

Mr. Jason Roussos 

. Mrs. Barbara Rowbottom 

Mr. J.S. Roy 

Mr. Thamanoon Ruangsilp 

*Mr. Walter A. Rudlin 

* Miss Parichart Ruengivsesh 

Miss Yaowamam Rujikietkumjom 

Miss Wasinee Rujirut 

*Mr. Dana W. Russell 

Mrs. Susan Ruthaivilavan 

Mrs· Chamnongsri Rutnin 

Mr. Kevin A. Ryon 

* Prof. Sood Saengvichien 

Mr. Prapat Saengwanit 

* Mr. David Sahlberg 

Mr. Bengt Sahlin 

*Mr. Patya Saihoo 

Dr. Waldemar Sailer


227 

*Mr. Takeshi Sakamoto 

* Mrs. Sita Sena Salih 

* Lt. Gen. Phya Salwidhan-Nidhes 

* Khunying Lursakdi Sampatisiri 

Miss M.S. Sanderson 

Mr. Richard E. Sandler 

* Mr. Cecil Sanford 

* Mr. Jitkasem Sangsingkeo 

Mr. Kriengsak Sangtong 

* Dr. Thawatchai Santisuk 

* Sao Saimong 

Mr. Vibul Sarakitpricha 

* Mrs. Laksanee Sarasas 

Mr. D.V. Sassoon 

*Mr. Hock Siew Saw 

Miss Suphanee Sawangwan 

*Mr. Pancha Sayalakshana 

Mrs. Chindabha Sayanha-Vikasit 

* Mr. Ratchatin Sayamanond 

* Prof. Dr. Meinrad Scheller 

Mr. George Schmidt 

Mr. Klaus Schindler 

*Mr. Hartmut W. Schneider 

* Dr. Hans Schneider 

H.E. W.F.M. Schmidt 

* Dr. E.P. Schrock 

Mr. Walter Schuller 

Mr. Dieter Schutt 

Dr. Ira K. Schwartz 

Mr. Herbert Schwarz 

Mr. P.C. Schwarz 

Mr. Dale Schwerdtfeger 

Dr. Breisach Schwoerer-Kohl 

Mr. Frank W. Scotton 

Dr. Thomas Scovel 

Mr. Ronald S. Scrivener 

Mrs. Thomas A. Seale 

Mr. Ulrich Seeger 

Mr. Lothar Seethaler 

Mr. D. Segaller 

* H.E. Monsieur Gunnar Seidenfaden 

Mr. Adreas S. Sekles 

Mr. Charles H .C. Seller 

Dr. Z. Semberova 

* Mr. Leo Seng Tee 

* Mr. A. Sennhauser 

Mrs. Doris Sepulveda 

Miss Kulanuch Sertsuwankul 

* Mr. Vija Sethaput 

* H .E. Phya Manava Raja Sevi 

Mrs. Colleen Sharp 

* Dr. Lauriston Sharp 

Dr. B C. Shaw 

* Mrs. Duangphorn Shaw 

* Prof. John Shaw 

* Mrs. Nisa Sheanakul 

* Mr. Lee Sheng-Yi 

Mr. Masahide Shibusawa 

Mrs. Haruyo Shirato 

* Prof. Dr. Yoshiro Shiratori 

* Dr. Jit Kasem Sibunruang 

* Mr. P.E.J.S. Simms 

Mr. David M. Sims 

Mr. Aksorn Sindhuprama 

* Mr. Jaimal Singh 

Mrs. Surijt Chawla Singh 

* H .R.H. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn 

Mrs. Soontree Sirachaya 

Miss Vimala Siripongse 

Miss Aroonee Sirivadhna 

* Mrs. Mani Sirivorasarn 

Mr. Javanit Sivakua 

* Mr. Sulakshna Sivaraks 

Dr. Ronald Skeldom

228 

* Mr. Robert Skiff 

Mr. Peter Skilling 

Prof. Cyril Skinner 

* Prof. G.W. Skinner 

Miss S. Skul Jittajarern 

Mr. Edwin Slatter 

Dr. William A. Smalley 

Mr. Peter M. Smidt 

Mr. Adelbert G. Smith 

Mr. Ellis G. Smith 

Mr. George Vinal Smith 

Dr. Herbert B. Smith 

Mr. Michael E. Smight 

* Mr. Perry E.H. Smith 

* Prof. Michael Smithies 

* Dr. Tern Smitinand 

Miss Sarapee Smutkochorn 

Dr. Isabella Vignoli Snidvongs 

Mrs. Pasherin Snidvongs 

* Mr. Pochana Snidvongs 

* Khun Varunyupha Snidvongs 

* Miss Wipudh Sobhavong 

*Mr. Soedjatmoko 

* Dr. Wilhelm G. Solheim, II 

*Mr. J. Paul Somm 

* Dr. Prasert Sombuntham 

~' M.R. Ying Subijja Sonakul 

H.S.H. Princess Sibpan Sonakul 

Mrs. Eva Sophonpanich 

Mrs. Kanchana Sophonpanich 

Mrs. Arunee Sopitpongsatorn 

Mr. Per Sorensen 

*Miss Marjorie W. Spaulding 

Mr. N .A.J. Spencer 

*Dr. Max Spiegelberg 

* Mr. Hans J. Speilmann 

* Dr. Charles N. Spinks 


Mr. Kuoch H. Srea 

Mr. Anek Srisanit 

Mrs. F. Sreesangkom 

* Admiral Ying Srihong 

Miss Tatsanai Sriratana 

• Dr. Koson Srisang 

* Mrs. Vina Sritanratana 

Mrs. Susan Staples 

Mr. Richard Stampfle 

* Miss Lucy Starling 

* Mr. Willy Steck 

Mr. Mark J. Stein 

Mr. David I. Steinberg 

Mr. James Stent 

Mrs. Ingrid Stenvik 

Dr. Rolf Stephan 

Mr. Bart N. Stephens 

Mr. Theodore Stern 

* Dr. Larry Sternstein 

* Mr. Charles Stewart 

Mr. John Stirling 

Mrs. Diane S. Strachan 

Mr. Robert Stratton 

Mr. Roger F. Stuveras 

Mr. Sumeth Suabanu 

Miss Sirichantorn Sucharitakul 

Mr. Seri Suddhaphakti 

Mrs. Hiroko Sukanjanajtee 

Miss V. Sukapanpotharam 

* Mrs. Sirivan Sukhabanij 

* Mr. Vhavit Sukhabanij 

* Dr. Dhara Sukhavachana 

Mr. Vichien Sukitjanont 

Miss Pisawat Sukonthapan 

Mrs. Vinita Sukrasep 

M.R. Suriyavudh Suksvasti 

Prof. Helmut Sundhaussen


229 

Mr. Methi Sunthornrangsri 

* Mr. Konthi Suphamongkhon 

Miss Supanand Supumporn 

Mr. Vinit Suraphongchai 

Miss Waraporn Suravadi 

Miss Somchit Suravanichsiri 

* Khunying Srinath Suriya 

Mrs. Rose Marie Sutan-Tanon 

Miss Anna Sutjayakorn 

Mrs. Bubphanard Suvanamas 

Mrs. Regina Suvansarang 

Mr. Songphand Suvansarang 

Mr. Phairoj Suvarnasthira 

* Mr. Kasin Suvatabandhu 

Mrs. Pha-oon Suwannawin 

* M.R. Vudhi Svasti 

Mr. Tor Svendsby 

* Mrs. Ellen Swan 

* Mr. Robert Swann 

Mr. D.K. Swearer 

Mrs. Pauline Tabtiang 

Mrs. Vallapha Tabtieng 

Datuk Shahuddin Mohamed Taib 

Assc. Prof. Takuji Takemura 

Miss Nicola J. Tamlyn 

* Mr. David K.S. Tan 

Miss Suchada Tangtongtavy 

Mr. Chirasak Tansathitaya 

Mrs. Ingrid Tantemsapya 

Mr. Thavi Tantisunthorn 

Dr. Thavi Tantiwongse 

Mr. N.C.T. Tapp 

Mr. David D. Tarrant 

Mr. William B. Tate 

Miss Kanita Tavekarn 

Mr. Ronald Tavel 

* Mr. Martin F. Taylor 

Miss Claudia Tennant 

* Mr. Sathien Tejapaibul 

Dr. Barend J. Terwiel 

Mr. Robert C. Tetro 

* Prof. Robert B. Textor 

Mr. Boonparn Thakoon 

Dr. Kokeo Thammongkol 

Mr. Chavalit Thanachanan 

Mrs. Veronika Thananan 

Mrs. Lucia Thagsuphanich 

Mr. Yin Thaung 

Mrs. Sukanya Thavikulwat 

Mr. Anussorn Thavisin 

Mr. John A. Thierry 

Miss Arpunchanit Thipayanond 

Mr. MarshallS. Thomas 

Mr. Geoffrey Thompson 

* Mr. Henry B. Thompson 

*Dr. Donald R. Thomson 

* Mr. Paothong Thongchua 

Mrs. Srinaul Thoomchai 

*Brigadier Gen. Elliott R. Thorpe 

Mr. Hans P. Tillmann 

Mrs. Sally Timm 

Mr. Marten G. Timmer 

Dr. Chitriya Tingsabadh 

Mr. Chitti Tingsabadh 

Mr. Suthas Tiradnakorn 

Dr. P. Tixier 

* Prof. Takejiro Tomita 

*Mr. Takashi Tomosugi 

M.R. Puckpring Tongyai 

M.R. Tongyai Tongyai 

Dr. Steven J. Torok 

Miss Lalita Tosompak 

Mr. Michael Toth 

Mrs. Jacqueline Touchard

230 

Dr. Hideo Toyokuni 

Miss Narelle R. Townsend 

Mrs. Yanagi Toyokuni 

Prof. Arne Trankell 

* Mr. Forrest C. Traville 

Miss Jeanne-Marie Treboul 

Mr. Guy Trebuil 

Miss Bernadette Tro 

Mr. Carl Trocki 

Mr. Hans J. Tschudi 

Mrs. Sheila Tuchinda 

Mr. John W. Tucker 

Mr. Paul Tuley 

Miss Sally Tun Thein 

Mr. WilliamS. Turley 

·• Mr. G.M. Turpin 

* Dr. Snoh Unakul 

* Mrs. Margaret Ungphakorn 

Mr. Michael A. Ussery 

Ms. K.M. Uvhagen 

Mr. Viravudhi Vajrabhaya 

Mrs. Prathumporn Vajrasathira 

Mrs. Rachanee Valls 

* Luang Borihara Vanakhett 

* Luang Saman Vanakit 

Mr. Steven D. Van Beek 

Mr. A.D. Vanderboon 

Mrs. Florance Man Duyn 

Mrs. lngeborg Vanek 

* Mr. H.A. van der Flier 

*Dr. M.B.C. van der Velden 

Mrs. Penny Van Esterik 

Dr. W.J. van Liere 

Mrs. Romee S. van Luttervelt 

Mr. J.D. van Oenen 

Mr. Peter Van Rijn 

Mr. Edward Van Roy 


Mr. Johan A. Van Zuylen 

Miss Thaveeporn Vasavakul 

" Mr. Pichai Vasnasong 

Mrs. Leonie Vejjajiva 

• H.E. Nissai Vejjajiva 

* Dr. Christian Velder 

Miss Andrea Verkuehlen 

Mr. Gabriei Vernier 

Mr. Robert Vernstrom 

Mrs. Daniel Verpillot 

Mr. Michael T. Vickery 

Mr. N. Victor 

Dr. John Villiers 

*Miss Suri Vimolohakarn 

*Dr. Samak Viravaidya 

Mr. Samrerng Virachanang 

"' Mr. Navmintr Vitayakul 

Mr. Vittorio 

* Dr. J. Vixseboxse 

*Mr. Rolf E. Von Bueren 

Mr. Charoon Vongsayanh 

• Prof. Dr. Oskar von Hinuber 

Mr. Chusak Voraphitak 

M.R. Chirie Voravarn 

Mrs. Esti Votaw 

Miss Suchitra Vuthisathird 

Mrs. Barbara Wagner 

Miss Elizabeth Walch 

Mr. Eric Waldelius 

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231 

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OBITUARIES 

PETER JAMES BEE 

1927-1982 

Members and friends of the Siam Siam Society will be saddened to learn of the 

death of Peter James Bee, Lecturer in Thai Studies at SOAS, University of London 

(1964-82) and former Lecturer in English at the Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkom University 

(1955-64). Peter, who had suffered from a serious heart condition in recent 

recent years, died quietly in his office on May 4, 1982. His colleague, Stuart Simmonds, 

had stopped by to join Peter for tea and discovered that he had passed away. 

Peter was born on July 12, 1927 in Leicester, England where he also received his 

primary education. He later went on to Clare College, Cambridge, where he received 

both his B.A. (Modem and Medieval Languages, 1951) and M.A. (Oriental Languages, 

principally Chinese Literature, 1953). In 1954, he studied Thai for a year at SOAS, 

and then came to Chula where he joined such stalwarts as John Blofeld, Victor Sassoon, 

and Robert Swann, and for almost a decade participated in what has come to be known 

as the "golden age of farang archam" at Chula's Department of English. Peter's 

years at Chula were memorialized in the 1965 book, mai pen rai means never 

mind by the late Carol Hollinger. Although Hollinger drew excellent portraits of all 

her characters (all of whom were identified by name) her descriptions of Peter's sparkling 

wit and infectious camaraderie, as well as his brilliance as a teacher, were unerring 

in their accuracy. During this period, he also shared a house with J. Marvin 

Brown who for years had been Director of Thai instruction at the AUA Language 

Center. Peter often said that it was Marvin's stimulation that induced him to expand 

his professional interests from literature into linguistics. Peter's love affair with 

Thailand culminated in his marriage to Khun Chok, the woman who was to be his 

wife for many years and the mother of his two children. 

Peter returned to SOAS in 1964 and with Stuart Simmonds and Khun Manas 

helped create the premier program for the study of Thai language and literature in the 

Western world. While Peter was not a prolific writer, the work he did publish or 

report on was marked by originality and profundity. He was a man of extraordinary 

intellectual talents. 

Peter was also keenly aware of his own strengths and limitations, and he much 

preferred dealing with people on a personal face-to-face basis rather than through the 

written word. He was a superb listener (with his head cocked slightly to the left) and 

always responded with relevance, clarity, and stimulation. Like Socrates in the 

Academy, he sometimes thought that writing created too great a distance between 

238

Obituaries 239 

people and also afforded more efficient opportunities for guile and falsehood. He 

himself was a man totally without guile. One of this writer's greatest frustrations was 

his inability to interest Peter in a position at Berkeley during the early 1970's when 

our own new Department of South and Southeast Asian Languages and Literature was 

created. Peter correctly perceived that at Berkeley he would have to write more 

and teach less--and that was not his style. 

Peter was a man of many parts. While he loved singing scatological ditties, 

he could also sing every Mozart opera--every part of every opera--from beginning to 

end. 

In fact, his love of music was exceeded only by his love of language. 

It is of course as a teacher that Peter will best be remembered. His students are 

legion, and include people as varied as the last British Consul in Chiengmai, one of 

Thailand's most provocative Ministers of Interior (Samak Sunthornwej), and the most 

recent Instructor in the Thai language at UC Berkeley. In fact, one encounters Peter's 

students under the most serendipitous circumstances : in 1979, I bad been working in 

California for more than a year with a Thai associate on aspects of contemporary Thai 

literature when I discovered that her favorite professor in college, twenty years earlier, 

had been Peter Bee. 

Although Peter was not a practicing Buddhist, he was keenly aware of the 

limitations of each person's existence and yet how the consequences of that existence 

tied each person to eternity. Just a month before his death, one of my own students 

was passing through London and I asked her to phone Peter to inquire about his health 

and to convey my regards. Peter would not talk about himself. Perhaps in prescient 

awareness of his condition, he would talk only of his children. He said, "Tell Herb 

that my children have grown up wonderfully. I am lucky. They are good people and 

they are going to contribute." 

Indeed, just as their father did. 

University of California, 

Berkeley 

Herbert P. Phillips

240 Obituaries 

Address by Professor E.H.S. Simmonds 

..t~ odJ 01 U J 01 Sl ~ 

~~'Uti\17W~1~ 

'UO 71'1ftyti-!!7W~\I 

~ ~ 

"Even as the four-footed may stumble so may the wise man still blunder". 

That is a proverbial saying of the Thai which Peter held very much in his mind 

and was fond of quoting. For he was a modest man, not unaware of his qualities but, 

being wisely aware of fallibility, he was disinclined openly to recognise or advertise 

them. Neither did he ask us to recognise those qualities but we did so all the same. 

We remember Peter for his constant generosity as a teacher. He had an active 

wish to share his knowledge and he preferred to do so person to person. He was 

unstinting of his time and effort, giving freely to all who sought him out-not only to 

those students who were bonded to appear in his classes. It was no real bondage 

because he carried his students with him in an enterprise of learning with clear and 

progressing aims. The beginning student found at Christmas that he could read and 

write Thai when in October he or she had no inkling 'of the structure of the sounds 

or the patterns of the script. Some Christmas present ! If it was no bondage then it 

was no eac;y ride either. Peter was·a determined taskmaster. I think that is the worddetermined, 

NOT harsh NOT hard. It would be conventional to say that he did not 

suffer fools gladly, but that would be wrong. If he encountered fools he suffered with 

them and for them, determined kindly and firmly to mitigate their foolishness. 

Peter had his idiosyncracies. He was very much an individual. This sometimes 

expressed itself in the complex arrangement of his material; perhaps sometimes 

puzzling to students. But the puzzle was always resolved. His aim was always to 

make difficult things easy, not easy things difficult. 

His students had no doubt about the end result that his teaching had for them. 

I have heard from Chiangmai in northern Thailand where presently reside two students 

of Peter's. One is a former British Consul, now retired, and the other a young geographer 

who writes to say how both could share fond memories of Peter's inimitable 

enthusiasm for the language and the way it works. He referred to Peter's drilling of 

the rules. At the time they seemed bizarre (not quite the right word perhaps) but 

invaluable when once the language was put to use, enabling him now, as he said, to do 

all his research work in Thai. 

I have had a tribute from the most recent Foreign Office student of Peter's who 

writes for himself and his colleagues who were taught by Peter, and he includes Her 

Majesty's present Ambassador in Bangkok who was once a fellow student of Peter's at 

the School. These tributes, and they are many, speak for themselves. 

Peter was first of all a student of language. At Cambridge, Clare College, he 

read the Modern and Mediaeval Language Tripos which gave him German an.d Rqs11ian,


Also he took the Diploma in Classical Chinese and he began his Thai studies at the 

School. Then, of course, he taught at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, for nearly 

a~ decade. 

His published works were not many. They lie mainly in the field of linguistic 

investigation and they are important. He always claimed a lack of sensitivity towards 

literature yet was able to write an article full of personal insight into the life and 

attitudes of one of Thailand's most accomplished contemporary poets. 

In later years he undertook a study of the language of the Maha Chat-The 

Great Life-The Vessantara Jataka. His work was intensely detailed. He gave several 

fascinating papers as the research progressed but, alas it remained unfinished. 

Over the years, in his personal life, Peter knew the love and happiness of a 

wife and family and saw his children grow and emerge from schooldays into the 

commencement of their careers. 

As a scholar he had a great love for his subject-that we all recognise. In the 

best sense he loved all with whom he came into contact through his work. People 

were for him a link between his research and his teaching. 

We remember Peter for his unfailing cheerfulness. His ready smile was 

familiar to us all. And we recognise his quality of openness-he was a man without 

guile. No one who knew him doubted that he was entirely worthy of trust. He was 

not naive. There was a quality of shrewdness in his judgments whether they were 

made about the problems of his work or about people. And in his judgments of people 

he was eminently fair and just. 

Peter no doubt knew the nature of tal]ha, desire and temptation-attributes that 

could, in the Buddhist explanation, lead to the acts that bind us to the wheel of existence. 

He was not a Buddhist but he also knew the value of the way of moderation, 

even of renunciation and austerity. He trespassed against none. 

Towards the end of his life he lived under the shadow of ill-health and this 

perhaps was one of the things which created a sense of loneliness in him. He did not 

allow this to intrude into his relations with others. He threw himself into his work 

and his teaching and the School became a place of great significance to him. 

People responded to his caring with caring of their own. His younger 

colleagues and his students were the friends he did not ask for but nevertheless needed. 

They gave a lot to him as he gave to them. And he and they enjoyed the hours of 

fruitful evening talk over a glass and a simple meal. 

His honesty and his loyalty made him, you see, a true man and that tr1,1e-ness 

does not die with death. It lives with life. It is, I believe, a quality, still existent, 

almost perhaps a constituent of the air we breathe and we who still live can take it to 

ourselves if we have the will to do so, as we remember Peter James Bee.

RICHARD DAVIS 

1943-1981 

Richard (Dick) Davis was born in New York in 1943. He took his first degree 

in 1965 at the University of Virginia. He had spent some time in France and it was 

probably then he discovered his natural talent, and the requisite capacity for hard 

work, which led to his mastery of foreign languages. This must have played some part 

in his decision to volunteer for the Peace Corps and his acquisition of extraordinary 

fluency in Thai. Dick was not unaware of his accomplishment, but acknowledged 

it with modesty. He once said: to me there were some things he did not fully understand-like 

the exact distinction between the uses of the relative pronouns thii ['Y1] "' and 

syng ["11'-3]. "' 

After his initial training he spent four years in the Peace Corps, mostly in Nan 

province. He worked for the Provincial Education Office in Nan and was responsible 

for setting up and supplying Hmong schools in the province. He made many close 

friends during this period. These he was to keep for the rest of his life. He also 

turned his formidable language learning skills to the acquisition of northern Thai 

(kham muang Nan [fi1L~a,nhu]). By 1967 he was preparing instructional material for 

other Peace Corps volunteers, on kham muang, with particular emphasis on variations 

between provinces. 

When his period with the Peace Corps came to an end, Davis went back to a 

village in Amphur Sa, with the intention of doing systematic anthropological fieldwork. 

This was in 1969. It was during this period that he learned the northern system of 

writing, or at least acquired the final polish to his previous knowledge, from the gentle, 

learned old man to whom he never ceased to express his gratitude-Noi Inta Muangphrom. 

Noi Inta died in 1980. In 1970 Davis was awarded a scholarship to the University 

of Sydney. He was to spend the rest of his academic life in Australia. In 

1972-73 he spent another year in Amphur Sa, and in 1974 received his PhD. The 

next four years he spent in Canberra, first as Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Department 

of Prehistory and Anthropology. During these years he proved himself a teacher of 

great skill and enthusiasm. Many of the students from that period remain passionately 

devoted to him and to his memory. In 1978 he took up a position as Lecturer in t~e 

Department of General Studies at the University of New South Wales. It was not the 

position he would have liked to have had, but economic conditions were bad, worldwide, 

and university jobs scarce. His task was to provide some general education for professional 

and science students, whose education was otherwise thought to be too narrow. 

242


Dick channelled all his enthusiasm, his love of Jazz, of film, of Southeast Asian ethnography 

and· general anthropology into his courses, but by its very nature it couldn't 

give him back what he so desired from teaching. 

For many years Dick Davis had suffered from a serious disorder which increasingly 

interfered with the way of life he chose and intended to live. Leaving his affairs 

in meticulous order, he died in June 1981 of his own choice. He was cremated, with 

Buddhist rites, in Sydney. 

My colleague, Michael Young, has eloquently paid tribute to Richard Davis as 

man and scholar, and all his friends would, I am sure, like to read this (Canberra 

Anthropology 4, (2) : 95-7, 1981). Rather than, inadequately, trying to cover this same 

ground, let me here make a brief preliminary assessment of Davis's work; one that may 

be of interest to readers of this Journal. 

Davis's major work is the revised version of his PhD thesis, Muang Metaphysics: 

A Study of Northern Thai Myth and Ritual, which we hope will soon be 

published. All the rest of his extant work is either incorporated here, or is closely 

integrated with it. Unpublished papers unconnected with his central interests, of 

which there was at least one, appear to have been destroyed. Myth and ritual remained 

his central and, as far as anthropology was concerned, finally, his only interest. All 

his talents and energy were devoted to the task of presenting and explaining this substantial 

portion of northern Thai ethnography. The book is a detailed account of just 

about all the ritual activity engaged in by northern Thai peasants. On one side, as it 

were, the detail of the ritual merges into peasant secular activity, and on the other into 

more orthodox Buddhist ritual. The observational detail is supported by a wealth of 

material from northern Thai texts and finally placed within the context of Tai ethnography, 

using a wide range of secondary sources. 

As an anthropologist, Davis was profoundly concerned with theory, but his 

exceptionally detailed knowledge of Muang ethnography and linguistic skill made him 

extremely cautious about theoretical speculations, or jumping to conclusions. One 

sees in his work, therefore, a constant attempt to have the ethnography make its own 

theoretical point, with but the barest intervention by the theoretician. Because it seems 

the least theoretical of his published work, his paper on the northern Thai calendar 

(1976) may perhaps best illustrate this point. This is the very detailed exposition of 

one partic11lar aspect of m!lang belief, but caref11lly located in the real world of use, 

rationalization and manip11lation. To state, baldly, that m:yth and ritual are in the 

very nature of man, may appear to be trite. In the book, Davis proceeds to demons-


trate by presenting a comprehensive ethnography of the northern Thai with these 

topics at the focus of his attention. He looks first at political and domestic units and 

draws from this the principles of sexual opposition and the structuring of relations 

between junior and senior. He moves to the more abstract and metaphysical treat- 

. ment of space and time and the oppositions emerge as "high" and "low". The next five 

chapters examine the emergence of these principles over and over again, in a series of 

rituals having to do with the division of time, agricultural production, territory and 

kinship. The final chapter attempts to make a more theoretical statement about myth 

and ritual. Here be uses ideas which appear in his paper on play (1977) and in his 

posthumous paper (1981). 

which were set out in a paper in Ethnology (1974). 

Most important, however, are his notions of ambiguity 

In a nutshell, Davis is saying that 

ritual is formalized and repetitive behaviour through which humans express both their 

own nature and that of the universe in which they live. For the northern Thai, at 

least, the symbolism of ritual is straightforward and unambiguous, though their myths 

often confound these same categories and shroud them in mists of ambiguity. The 

strength of Davis's work is not in these ideas themselves, but in the manner in which 

he attempts to demonstrate them. It is in the ethnography. As an example, let us 

consider his treatment of the male/female opposition. It first arises out of his discussion 

of so-called northern Thai matriliny. He presents the ethnography to bring out 

the fact that though domestic and kinship relations are largely structured through 

women, they are subordinate to an overwhelming ideology of male dominance-itself 

articulated with other antimonies of northern Thai culture, such as the high and the 

low, senior and junior. This problem, or set of problems, is again taken up at the end 

of the book when he discusses the political aspects of clan and domestic rituals, and 

the final result is a complex presentation of the way in which the symbolic, structural 

dichotomy between male and female interacts with other such symbolic dichotomies, 

is woven into ideology, and finally emerges as political. action. The ethnography is 

not seen merely as a manifestation of binary opposition, of functional consistency, or 

sexual repression, but a complex amalgam of these, and much more. 

The intellectual rigour with which he approached his chosen subject, myth and 

ritual, had two unfortunate results. He sometimes seemed to place too much reliance 

on fashionable, but simplistic, notions such as those of Mary Douglas. The reason I 

say this, is that most of the major theoretical trends in anthropological theory, if 

followed through, have consequences. They lead to general notions about the way the 

world is. This does not seem to be so for such dichotomies as "group" and "grid" 

canvassed by Mary Douglas. More important, in Davis's case, is that his theoretical

explorations seem to have deepened his pessimism. 

The major currents of anthropological 

theory are basically optimistic. 


Despite the pessimism that sometimes emerges 

in Levi-Strauss's own writings, Levi-Straussian structuralism is at bottom a humanist 

affirmation of the powers of the intellect : functionalism if pushed too far is almost 

panglossian, and the ideas of Freud and Marx may always be interpreted in evangelical 

and utopian ways. 

by a sense of control. 

Reading Muong Metaphysics and the earlier papers, I am impressed 

In his last work, posthumously published, Davis pulled out of 

Muong Metaphysics the one notion hardly elaborated there-stereotypy. More than 

that, he dispassionately set out to examine himself with the sharpest analytical tools he 

had at his disposal. It is not, I think, doing him a disfavour to let it be known that 

'The Ritualization of Behaviour' is partly autobiogr1:1phical. 

; 

There were two major events in Davis's relations with The Siam Society and 

this Journal. His paper "Muang Matrifocality" raised the whole question of the 

interpretation of northern Thai kinship and spirit propitiation. It is hoped that this 

paper will form the core of a book on the subject that some of his friends and colleagues 

wish to put together in his memory. The other event was of course A Northern Thai 

Reader, published by The Society in 1970. To my knowledge it was the first and still 

the only work of this kind in English, and it preceded what I understand, is the 

standard text used at the University of Chiangmai, by the late Acharn Singkha 

Wanasai by about five years. I am not sure that Davis fully realized the importance of 

this work, though he did think the palm leaf texts important enough to leave among 

his effects a box full of muong texts carefully copied out by hand. 

When the Presbyterian Missionaries went to Chiangmai in the last century they 

set up a press and began publishing religious tracts in what they called Lao-but what 

was in fact the northern Thai script. 

government signs were written in this tua muang [i1L~t:1-1]. 

During the early years of this century, official 

After the Shan rebellion, 

Bangkok moved to unify the kingdom with one officiall~nguage and one official script. 

In the meantime, the missionaries had discovered that this so-called Lao script was used 

over a wide region stretching from Chiang Tung into Yunnan and eastwards. 

In Laos 

it was the tua tham [ fl ... 11iTnJ], the script of the Buddhist texts. All this is known from 

the work of Dodd, but what has happened over the last few years is the growing 

interest among scholars in Chiangmai, the discovery and transliteration of texts, and the 

realization that the same script, rationalized by order of the Chinese Government, is 

actually being used around Kunming. 

Acharn Kraisri Nimmanheminda has also now


discovered that a considerable collection of texts was removed from the Lue country to 

Taiwan-and is now available there. Davis's book, from being an interesting curiosity, 

should now be at the centre of a small but fascinating field of academic endeavour. 

In the short period available to him, he has left a substantial m~rk on both 

anthropology and Thai studies. Muang Metaphysics and A Northern Thai Reader are 

two landmarks in the field. 

Department of Anthropology, 

The Research School of Pacific Studies, 

The Australian National University, 

Canberra 

Gehan W ijeyewardene 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

n.d. Muang Metaphysics: A Study of Northern Thai Myth and Ritual. (Revised version of PhD. 

University of Sydney, 1974). 

1970 A Northern Thai Reader. Bangkok, The Siam Society. 

1973 Muang Matrifocality. Journal of the Siam Society 61 (2): 53-62. 

1974 Tolerance and Intolerance of Ambiguity in Northern Thai Myth and Ritual. Ethnology 

Xlll (1) : 1-24. 

1976 The Northern Thai Calender and its Uses. Anthropos 71 : 3-32. 

1977 Myth, Play and Alchemy. Canberra Anthropology 1 (1) : 15-23. 

1981 The Ritualization of Behaviour. Mankind 13 (2): 103-112. 

In Thai: 

1972 

G1 I I a 4 I 

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John Black, The Lofty Sanctuary of Khao Phra Vihiir, Together with the Inscriptions 

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-·-·-- 

THE RECONSTRUCTION OF RAMA I 

OF THE CHAKRI DYNASTY 

By 

Prince Dhani Nivat, Kromamun Bidyalabh 


Siam Society's Library 

BANGKOK 

Rattanakosin Bicentennial 198.2 

BANGKOK THAILAND 

The Siam Society


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Printed at Prachandra Printing Press, Maharaja Road, Bangkok, Thailand Tel. 2221555 

Mrs. Sanitwan Bunyasiribhandhu, Proprietor, Printer and Publisher, 19 83

THE KAMTHIENG HOUSE 

ITS HISTORY AND COLLECTIONS 

A Classic Example of Northern Thai 

Residential Architecture of the Nineteenth Century 

Text by ...... . ....... . . . . . Sonia Krug 

Photographs by ... . .. . ...... Shirley Duboff 

Drawings by .... . .......... Euayporn Kerdchouay 

Design by .... . . . .. . . . ..... Jacqueline Page Sutliff 

The Siam Society 

Under Royal Patronage 

Bangkok 

April 1982

The Journal of the Siam Society Vol. LXX, Part 1-2, 1982 - Khamkoo

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